THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MEASUREMENT OF THE SERUM TISSUE POLYPEPTIDE ANTIGEN (TPA) CONCENTRATION IN SURGICAL ENDOCRINE DISEASES

The serum TPA (tissue polypeptide antigen) concentration was measured to determine whether TPA is usable for differential diagnosis in various surgical endocrine diseases. As for malignant diseases, breast cancer and malignant thyroid diseases were studied as well as benign thyroid diseases and benign adrenal diseases. In some cases, measurement of CEA (cartioembryonic antigen) was also performed for the purpose of comparison. Breast cancer showed a high TPA value and positive ratio of 65% against a positive ratio of 23% by CEA. TPA and CEA values were normal in both malignant and benign thyroid diseases and the positive ratio for each was 0%. In three adrenal diseases, namely pheochromocytoma, Cushing's syndrome and primary aldosteronism, three was a significantly high TPA positive ratio of 97%. All three adrenal diseases simultaneously showed hypertension, renal dysfunction and a diabetes mellitus condition, one of which was presumably cause of the high TPA values. CEA displayed a slightly higher value in pheochromocytoma and a normal value in the other two adrenal diseases. No clear correlation with TPA was observed.