Squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen (SCC‐A) values related to clinical outcome of pre‐invasive and invasive cervical carcinoma

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Abstract
The serum concentration of squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen (SCC‐A), a subfraction of tumour antigen, was determined by RIA from healthy donors (control group) and from patients with malignant cervical disease. Ninety‐six percent (173/180) of the healthy patients had squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen serum levels below 2ng/ml. Ten of 70 (14.3%) patients with CIN III, 53.8% (34/62) of patients with invasive squamous‐cell carcinoma stage 1, 85.8% (30/35) with stage II and 96.5% (27/28) with stage III/IV had squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen serum levels above 2ng/ml. We observed that 22.5% (11/49) of patients with a tumour volume below 10ml and 92.6% of patients with a tumour volume greater than 10ml had squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen levels above 2ng/ml (p < 0.005). SCC‐A was correlated with recurrence or progressive disease in 90.0% of cases. Other risk factors such as depth of invasion, microscopic parametrial involvement, lymphatic and/or vascular space permeation and histological grade were not correlated with squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen. Furthermore, this marker increased 4.3 ± 2.7 months before clinical evidence of recurrence or progressive disease. We conclude that serial serum levels of squamous‐cell carcinoma antigen provide a means for early detection of recurrence or progressive disease. This tumour marker might also be useful for monitoring the treatment effects and has some prognostic value.