Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Serum tumor markers play important roles in diagnosis, response and prognosis monitoring for lung cancer. The clinical significance of serum level of tissue polypeptide specific antigen (TPS) was investigated in diagnosis, response monitoring and prognosis in patients with lung cancer, compared with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), precursor of gastrin-releasing peptide (Pro-GRP) and cytokeratin-19-fragments (CYFRA21-1). METHODS: Blood samples of eighty-two patients with lung cancer before treatment and some after chemotherapy were measured by ELISA for four tumor markers. RESULTS: Compared with lung benign diseases group and health control group, the positive rates and levels of TPS, CEA and Pro-GRP in patients with lung cancer were higher, with statistically significant difference. TPS in extensive-small cell lung cancer was significant higher than that in limited-small cell lung cancer. The positive rates and levels of TPS, CEA and Pro-GRP in patients after treatment had significant decreases compared with before treatment. TPS was an independent prognostic factor of non-small cell lung cancer. CONCLUSION: TPS is valuable to diagnosis, response monitoring for patients with lung cancer, moreover, it maybe a useful factor of prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer.