Objective: To investigate the diagnostic value of serum CEACAM1 in patients with pancreatic cancer.
Methods: Fifty patients with pancreatic cancer and 50 with chronic pancreatitis were examine for serum levels of CEACAM1 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The cut-off values and area under curve (AUC) of CEACAM1 was obtained by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The diagnostic efficiency of the tumor markers for pancreatic cancer was assessed by the fourfold table.
Results: The serum level and positivity rate of CEACAM1 in pancreatic cancer patients were higher than those in chronic pancreatitis patients (P<0.05). Based on the ROC curve, the cut-off values and AUC of CEACAM1 were 13.835 ng/ml and 0.780, respectively (P<0.05). In pancreatic cancer patients, the diagnostic sensitivities of the tumor markers decreased in the order of CEACAM1 < CA242 < CA19-9 (P<0.05), and the specificity in the order of CA242 < CA19-9 < CEACAM1 (P<0.05).
Conclusion: CEACAM1 shows a higher diagnostic sensitivity than CA19-9 and CA242 for pancreatic cancer, but due to its low specificity this marker alone is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes.