Study of the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in benign diseases

BACKGROUND: The values of the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in benign diseases were studied with the aim of determining false positive values in the study of epidermoid carcinomas. METHODS: Serum determinations of the SCC antigen were performed by radioimmunoanalysis with the Abbott SCC-RIA kit. The control group was made up of a total of 719 subjects of whom 317 were healthy blood donors and 402 were healthy women with normal cervicovaginal cytology. The study group was made up of 693 women with benign diseases. RESULTS: Ninety-eight point two percent of the subjects from the control group presented values under 2.5 ng/ml, therefore this value was chosen as the maximum limit of normality. Higher values than this threshold of normality were observed in 11.7% of the 34 patients with chronic disease (0.1-18.2 ng/ml) and in 57.5% of the 40 patients with chronic renal failure (0.5-6.0 ng/ml). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chronic liver disease or chronic renal failure, the serum determination of the squamous cell carcinoma antigen loses its value as a tumor marker of epidermoid carcinomas given the risk of obtaining false positive values.