Preliminary results on the use of Ca 15-3 in malignant ovarian pathology

Ca 15-3 was evaluated as a tumoral marker for ovarian carcinoma and compared to Ca 125, Ca 19-9 and TPA. Fourteen women with untreated malignant epitelial ovarian neoplasm and 52 women with various gynecological pathologies (16 benign ovarian tumors, 9 endometriosis, 16 malignant uterine tumors, 8 malignant uterine tumors and 3 vulvar carcinomas) were studied. All patients were sampled once before surgery. Patients with ovarian carcinoma were also sampled monthly for 18 months during and after chemiotherapy. Serum concentrations were assayed with an immunoradiometric assay using monoclonal antibodies (Ca 15-3, Ca 125 and Ca 19-9) or with a radioimmunoassay using polyclonal antibodies (TPA). Sensitivity and specificity were 42.9% and 92.3% for Ca 15-3, 71.4% and 94.2% for Ca 125, 28.6% and 92.3% for Ca 19-9, 71.4% and 80.8% for TPA, respectively. When Ca 15-3 was evaluated in association with Ca 125 and Ca 19-9 sensitivity and specificity were 71.4% and 88.5% for Ca 15-3 + Ca 125, and 64.3% and 88.5% for Ca 15-3 + Ca 19-9 respectively. Ca 125 gave the best accuracy and specificity. Ca 15-3 was positively correlated to Ca 125 (P<0.01) but because of its lower sensitivity cannot be used alone for monitoring ovarian malignant epithelial neoplasms