Francisco Delgado-Guerrero, Departamento de Urología, Hospital General de Tlahuac, Secretaría de Salud, Ciudad de México, México
Mary C. Hernández-Arsola, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
Objective: To determine the effectiveness of Ca 15-3 antigen for the diagnosis of prostate cancer, to compare Ca 15-3 antigen levels with PSA and to know the usefulness of Ca 15-3 as a predictor marker of metastasis in prostate cancer. Method: This study evaluated the role of Ca 15-3 as a tumor marker in patients with elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA), patients with suspected prostate cancer, patients with histopathological diagnosis of prostate cancer and patients without colon, breast and lung neoplasia. All of them underwent Ca 15-3 quantification by IRMA, therefore 47 patients were studied and divided into four study groups: A, control group; B, suspected prostate cancer; C, prostate cancer without treatment; D, prostate cancer with treatment. Results: Of the 47 patients studied, 7 of them obtained Ca 15-3 elevation: none in group A, 1 in group B, 2 in group C, and 4 in group D. Conclusions: The Ca 15-3 antigen is not effective for the diagnosis of prostate cancer. We believe that the Ca 15-3 antigen could become a marker for the detection of metastasis in this type of cancer.
Keywords: Prostate cancer. Metastasis. Ca 15-3. MUC 1. Tumor markers.