The utility of lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA or LSA) as a serum marker for malignancy. A review of the literature

The utility of the lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA or LSA) test as a serum marker for malignancy is reviewed. The name LASA or LSA test is confusing because it suggests that only or mainly lipid-bound sialic acid is measured. In reality, glycoprotein-bound sialic acid is determined predominantly....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTumor biology Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 121
Main Authors Schutter, E M, Visser, J J, van Kamp, G J, Mensdorff-Pouilly, S, van Dijk, W, Hilgers, J, Kenemans, P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 1992
Subjects
Antigens, Neoplasm - blood
Biomarkers, Tumor - blood
Breast Neoplasms - blood
Colonic Neoplasms - blood
Female
Humans
Lipids - blood
Male
N-Acetylneuraminic Acid
Neoplasms - blood
Reference Values
Sialic Acids - blood
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Summary:The utility of the lipid-associated sialic acid (LASA or LSA) test as a serum marker for malignancy is reviewed. The name LASA or LSA test is confusing because it suggests that only or mainly lipid-bound sialic acid is measured. In reality, glycoprotein-bound sialic acid is determined predominantly. The assay appears to have a particularly high positivity rate in leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, melanoma, sarcoma, advanced ovarian carcinoma and oropharyngeal tumors, suggesting that LASA may serve as a valuable marker in these malignancies. As a consequence of the rise of sialic acid-rich acute-phase proteins, such as alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, in inflammatory diseases the specificity of LASA and therefore its diagnostic accuracy is low. LASA can be useful for monitoring cancer patients during treatment, especially in combination with other tumor markers.
ISSN:1010-4283
DOI:10.1159/000217755