Usefulness of a new tumor marker, span-1, for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

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Abstract
Levels of serum Span‐1, a new tumor marker for pancreatic cancer, were assayed in 64 patients with pancreatic cancer, 90 with nonpancreatic cancer, and 254 with nonmalignancies, involving 55 healthy controls. Furthermore, Span‐1 was compared with other tumor markers (CA19‐9, carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA], and DU‐PAN‐2). Frequency of elevated Span‐1 levels was 81.3% in pancreatic cancer. False‐positive elevations of serum Span‐1 levels were rather common in liver cirrhosis (53.8%) and chronic hepatitis (26.3%). The sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency of this assay for pancreatic cancer, was 81.3%, 75.6%, and 76.5% against all subjects without pancreatic cancer, respectively. In comparison with other markers, sensitivity of Span‐1 tended to be highest with similar specificity to those of CA19‐9 and CEA. The Span‐1 assay has a high sensitivity and specificity for pancreatic cancer. It is almost equivalent to CA19‐9 assay. However, this assay is not specific for chronic liver diseases.