Squamous cell carcinoma antigen and cancer antigen 125 in southern Indian cervical cancer patients.

Our objective was to evaluate the diagnostic value of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-ag) and cancer antigen (CA) 125 serum tumor markers for the detection of cervical cancer. Abnormal SCC-ag(>1.5 ng/mL) and CA125 (>35 U/mL) levels were found in 64.2% and 18.9% of a series of SCC patients and in 25.0% and 42.6% of adenocarcinoma (AC) patients. The SCC-ag and CA 125 markers appeared rather specific for cervical SCCs and ACs, respectively, also correlating with clinical stage and lymph node metastasis, but not tumor size or patient age. In conclusion, SCC-ag and CA 125 are useful and reproducible markers for advanced stage disease and thus prognosis of cervical cancer.