Detection of mammary micrometastases by pregnancy-associated α2-glycoprotein (PAG, α2-PAG or PAM) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA)

• Published in: European journal of cancer Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 709 - 714
• Main Authors: Anderson, J.Maxwell, Stimson, W.H., Gettinby, G., Jhunjhunwala, S.K., Burt, R.W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 1979
• ISSN: 0014-2964
• DOI: 10.1016/0014-2964(79)90145-2

Eleven of 30, stages 1 or 2 mammary cancer bearers developed conventionally detectable metastases within 8–37 (median, 21)months. Serum PAM rose by >75% above baselines before detection of metastases in all but one of these patients and in 5 of the 19 remaining well. The means of the maximum percentage rises in PAM were 421.9 for the metastatic and 59.9 for the well patients ( P<0.01 in Mann-Whitney U-test). In contrast, there was a similar sustained rise in serum CEA in only 2 of 10 patients with metastases (one other rose > 75% above baseline but fell before metastases appeared), and 10 of the 19 clinically well patients had rises exceeding 75%. This was not bettered by taking a 45% rise in CEA as the discriminant or by using a function of the combined rises in PAM and CEA. Also there were no significant correlations between the absolute values of serum PAM and CEA nor between their incremental changes. Thus PAM rises often detect micrometastases with growth potential in mammary cancer bearers. Whilst CEA rises are only occasionally helpful.