[The clinical usefulness of the measurement of serum sialyl SSEA-1 antigen levels in patients with gynecologic diseases: as respects the comparative effectiveness of sialyl SSEA-1 and CA125]

Increased concentrations of serum Sialyl SSEA-1 antigen, which belongs to type 2 chain carbohydrate antigens and is defined by a new monoclonal antibody FH-6, were observed in 47.2% of patients with ovarian cancer. The Sialyl SSEA-1 test may not be of use in detecting ovarian cancer in the early stages, because the positivity gradually increased with the clinical stages. However, the measurement of the Sialyl SSEA-1 concentrations was a useful tool to use in making a prognosis. The sialyl SSEA-1 and CA125 combination test was not useful in increasing sensitivity because of overlapping of the positivity. Increases in both serum Sialyl SSEA-1 and CA125 indicated the presence of malignancies associated with ovarian tumors in pregnant women. On the other hand, the Sialyl SSEA-1 test showed significantly low false positivity for non-neoplastic diseases except endometriosis.