A re-evaluation of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) as a serum marker for non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) is still a widely used tumor marker for monitoring non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), although recent reports discourage its routine use because of low sensitivity. This is a study evaluating the efficacy of SCC and CYFRA21-1 in diagnosing NSCLC. A chart review was performed in a university hospital in Japan, covering a period of 10 years, up to October 2004. During the study period, 142 (35.5%) among 400 NSCLC patients diagnosed, received serum assays of both SCC and CYFRA21-1. Elevated SCC and CYFRA21-1 levels were found in 29.6% and 59.2% of patients, respectively. SCC sensitivity was only 13.0% but CYFRA21-1 sensitivity rose to 73.9% in metastatic patients. The adjunct of SCC increased the CYFRA21-1 sensitivity by 6.3% in the overall population and by only 2.2% for patients with metastases. SCC determination should be considered an inefficient method as a potential diagnosing tool for NSCLC patients, and it provides no additional value when used in combination with CYFRA21-1.

Prognostic Factors Based on Clinicopathological Data Among the Patients with Resected Peripheral Squamous Cell Carcinomas of the Lung

“…The difference of reliability among them remains unclear. Kagohashi et al 16 demonstrated that there is no statistical difference in sensitivity between SCC and CYFRA among SqCC patients. SCC has been used as a reliable and popular marker for SqCC in Japan and in European countries.…”

Prognostic Impact of Preoperative Tumor Marker Levels and Lymphovascular Invasion in Pathological Stage I Adenocarcinoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung

“…As shown in Figure 1, the current TNM classification does not clearly reflect the survival rates among patients with SQ. 21 Therefore, we believe that these tumor marker levels should be incorporated as upgrading factors in the next TNM classification. This stage upgrade clearly reflects OS and RFS among patients with stage I SQ.…”

Prognostic Value of Tumor Markers, NSE, CA125 and SCC, in Operable NSCLC Patients

“…Serum levels of NSE, CA125 and SCC were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). According to the manufacturer’s instructions and previously published results [11,13,18], the upper limits of the normal values were at 12.5 ng/mL for NSE, 35 U/mL for CA125 and 1.5 ng/mL for SCC.…”

“…A significant correlation between CA125 and the outcome of NSCLC has been reported [11]. SCC originally obtained from squamous cell carcinoma tissue from the uterine cervix [12] has been proven to be a well-established tumor marker for squamous cell carcinoma [13]. However, many reports discouraged its clinical routine use in NSCLC, due to its low sensitivity [14,15].…”