ABSTRACT
Carcinoembryonic antigen [CEA] is a classic tumor marker for CRC, and has been used to monitor CRC recurrence and as a prognostic factor for CRC patients. The CEA molecule is an onco-development human tumor marker and bears the cluster differentiation designation of CD66e. It has a molecular weight of 180 kDa. Due to considerable clinical merit of CEA for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment, a study was carried out to assess its levels in patients suspected of or diagnosed with GIT cancers, with special reference to colorectal carcinoma [CRC]. A total of 106 patients, 71 [66.98%] males and 35 [33.01%] females, were included in the study with age range of 46 to 79 years. Out of 71 males, 33 [46.47%] have malignant conditions and exhibited elevated levels of CEA whereas 38 have non-malignant complications with normal or non-significant CEA concentrations. The malignant conditions in males [n = 33] are sub-grouped and were determined to be pancreatic [n = 2, 6.06%], gastric [n = 10, 30.30%], colorectal [n = 18, 54.54%] and hepatic [n = 3, 9.09%] cancers. Furthermore, in female group of 35 patients, 15 [42.85%] were diagnosed with malignant condition of pancreatic [n = 1; 6.66%], gastric [n = 5; 33.33%], colorectal [n = 7; 46.66%] and hepatic [n = 2; 13.335] cancers and exhibited elevated levels of CEA. In present study all malignant conditions, either metastasizing or not, showed significantly elevated levels of CEA. In male-malignant cancer patents' groups, average CEA values were 102.20 40 ng/ml, 298.40 21 ng/ml, 451.65 16 ng/ml and 176.10 5 ng/ml for pancreatic, gastric, colorectal and hepatic cancers, respectively. Similarly in females elevated levels of CEA were noted in pancreatic [99 ng/ml], gastric [169.25 22 ng/ml] CRC [441.15 16 ng/ml] and hepatic [128.54 20 ng/ml]. At present, serial CEA-monitoring is considered the best non-invasive technique for detecting CRC and its recurrence. It is also substantiated that intensive follow-up CEA assays facilitate the identification of treatable recurrence at an early stage