Clinical value of sialyl Tn antigen in patients with gynecologic tumors

Sialyl Tn antigen was measured by the immunoradiometric competitive inhibition assay in sera from patients with various gynecologic tumors: 49 uterine myomas, 97 cervical cancers, 42 endometrial cancers, 63 benign ovarian tumors, and 59 ovarian cancers including eight cases of borderline malignancy. The current findings demonstrate that the lack of tumor specificity of sialyl Tn antigen limits its diagnostic value in gynecologic malignancies, but that serial measurement of this antigen appears to be useful for monitoring patients and evaluating therapy