August 16, 2023
1. Reference interval
The reference interval for carbohydrate antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) is ≤ 6.9U/ml in normal human serum
2. Clinical significance
(1) CA72-4 is the preferred tumor marker for the diagnosis of gastric cancer, with high specificity for gastric cancer, and its sensitivity can reach 28% to 80%. If combined with CA19-9 and CEA detection, it can monitor more than 70% of gastric cancer.
(2) The level of CA72-4 is significantly correlated with the staging of gastric cancer, generally increasing in stages III-IV of gastric cancer. For gastric cancer patients with metastasis, the positive rate of CA72-4 is much higher than that of non metastatic patients. The level of CA72-4 can quickly decrease to normal after surgery. In 70% of recurrent cases, the concentration of CA72-4 first increases.
(3) CA72-4 has high specificity in the differential diagnosis of benign lesions, with a detection rate of only 0.7% among numerous patients with benign gastric diseases.
(4) CA72-4 has different detection rates for other gastrointestinal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and ovarian cancer. The combined application of CA72-4 and CA199 in the detection of gastric cancer; The combined detection of CA72-4 and CEA can significantly improve the clinical sensitivity of preliminary diagnosis of colorectal cancer; The combined detection of CA72-4 and CA125 serves as a diagnostic marker for primary and recurrent ovarian tumors, with specificity up to 100%.
