Clinical evaluation of tumor markers in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, laying stress on SCC antigen

Serum levels of squamous cell carcinoma related antigen (SCC-Ag), immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP), ferritin (FER), carcinomaembryonic antigen (CEA) and β2-microgroblin (BMG) were measured in 43 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.The true positive rate (sensitivity) was 11.6% for SCC-Ag, 14.0% for CEA, 16.3% fur BMG, 18.6% for FER and 27.6% for IAP. The true negative rate (specificity) was 100% for SCC-Ag, 95.2% for CEA, 90.5% for FER and BMG and 57.1% for IAP. Positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SCC-Ag were highest in another tumor markers.High pretreatment SCC-Ag levels declined to undectable level after treatment. In case of squamous cell carcinoma without recurrence, positive rate was 7.0% for SCC-Ag.Therefore SCC-Ag is more useful than other tumor markers for monitaring response to treatment and follow-up.