| Abstract: | In order to estimate the clinical significance of sialyl Lewis Xi (SLXi) antigen, the antigen was measured with an "FH-6" Otsuka Kit in sera from patients with various gynecologic tumors and healthy women. The antigen in ovarian cyst fluids was also determined. Furthermore, serum SLXi antigen levels were serially followed up in the patients with elevated serum SLXi levels to evaluate the correlation between serum SLXi levels and the response to treatment. Results obtained were as follows. 1) Among the patients with uterine myoma, uterine malignancies and benign ovarian tumors, the incidence of elevated serum SLXi antigen levels was very low. 2) Among the patients with ovarian malignancies, serum SLXi antigen levels was significantly increased in the following order: clinical stage I (38%), stage II (50%) and stage III (65%). 3) The high SLXi value was observed in the cyst fluid from all ovarian mucinous adenomas and all ovarian cancers. In addition SLXi antigen level was significantly higher in the cyst fluid of mucinous adenocarcinomas than that of serous cystadenocarcinomas. 4) Serum SLXi values were correlated with the effect of treatment. Interestingly, the elevation of serum SLXi levels preceded the clinical detection of recurrence by 3 month in a case. Thus SLXi antigen appears to be a useful marker for monitoring of ovarian malignancies, especially of mucinous adenocarcinomas. |
