[The clinical significance of serum sialyl SSEA-1 antigen in obstetrical and gynecological patients].

To evaluate the clinical significance of serum SSEA-1 level, the antigen level was measured in sera of obstetric and gynecologic patients. A positive rate was low in patients with endometriosis (9.1%), myoma uteri (0%), benign ovarian tumor (15%), cervical squamous cell carcinoma (14%) and endometrial carcinoma (18%). In this series of study, interest was that positive cases in benign ovarian tumor group were all patients with dermoid cyst. On the other hand, a high positive rate was observed among the patients with cervical adenocarcinoma (50%), primary ovarian malignancies (55%) and secondary ovarian malignancies (50%). Among the patients with ovarian malignancies, serum sialyl SSEA-1 level significantly increased according to clinical stage. In patients with positive serum sialyl SSEA-1, rising or falling of the serum level of this antigen correlated well with progression or regression of the disease. Measurement of serum CA125 was also performed in patients with ovarian malignancies, which showed a significantly higher positive rate (96%) and revealed that this antigen has no correlation with sialyl SSEA-1. A low positive rate of serum sialyl SSEA-1 level (9.1%) was observed in gravidas, while a higher positive rate (43%) in puerperas, especially within three days after parturition. This evidence should be considered when serum sialyl SSEA-1 antigen is measured as tumor marker. All these observations suggest that the measurement of serum sialyl SSEA-1 level is useful not only in the diagnosis of ovarian malignancies but for the judgment of the effect of treatment and the search for their recurrences.