Carcinoembryonic Antigen andβ2-Microglobulin as Serum Tumor Markers in Women with Genital Cancer

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Abstract
A comparative study of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and β2-microglobulin (β2-MG) in serum was made by radioimmunoassay in 77 women with genital cancer. With a positive level defined as 5 ng of CEA/ml and 3.0 μg of β2-MG/ml, CEA was positive in 31% of the women with cancer of the corpus, 36% of those with cancer of the cervix and 36% of those with cancer of the ovary; the corresponding figures for β2-MG were 6%, 27% and 56%, respectively. The additional use of β2-MG provided an increase in positive results, especially in cases of cancer of the ovary. A direct relationship between the extent of tumor and serum marker level was more evident for β2-MG than CEA. There was no correlation between serial levels of CEA and β2-MG in most patients. CEA levels appeared to predict subsequent tumor behavior more accurately in patients with good prognoses (ie, complete or partial tumor response), whereas β2-MG levels gave the same prediction in those with bad prognoses (ie, nonresponsive or progressive tumor).