Usefulness of a new tumor marker, Span-1, for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer

Article Abstract:

Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis, and survival time after diagnosis is generally very short. There are indications that survival improves with early diagnosis, but current diagnostic techniques are not entirely satisfactory. A specific tumor marker, if available, might improve the chances of early detection, thereby improving survival. Span-1 is a tumor marker discovered on cultured human pancreatic tumor cells, which seems to be highly specific for pancreatic cancer. The effectiveness of Span-1 as a potential diagnostic tool was explored in a study of 64 patients with pancreatic cancer, 90 with other forms of cancer, and 254 patients without malignancies, including 55 healthy subjects. It was found that Span-1 levels in the blood were elevated in 81.3 percent of the cases of pancreatic cancer. Span-1 was elevated in only 1.8 percent of the healthy controls, and the level of Span-1 was elevated among some patients with nonpancreatic malignancies, ranging from 23 percent of the patients with gastric cancer to 62 percent of the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Although the level of Span-1 was low in most nonmalignant conditions, including pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), it was significantly elevated in patients with cirrhosis of the liver (53.8 percent) and chronic hepatitis (26.1 percent). It should also be noted that 23.1 percent of the patients with diabetes mellitus had elevated levels of Span-1. Span-1 has both high specificity and sensitivity for pancreatic cancer and may prove to be clinically useful. However, the high-false positive rates among a few nonmalignant diseases, especially liver diseases, must be taken into account. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Pancreatic cancer, Tumor antigens, Tumor markers

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Diagnosis of HIV-1 infection with whole saliva by detection of antibody IgG to HIV-1 with ultrasensitive enzyme immunoassay using recombinant reverse transcriptase as antigen

Article Abstract:

Testing saliva for antibodies to HIV-1 may be effective in diagnosing HIV infection. Researchers used the immune complex transfer enzyme immunoassay to test saliva for the presence of antibodies to an HIV-1 protein, recombinant reverse transcriptase (rRT). They tested saliva from 45 asymptomatic HIV positive people, 8 AIDS-related complex (ARC) patients, 10 AIDS patients, and 76 medical students. The lowest signals among asymptomatic HIV positive subjects, ARC, and AIDS patients were 38, 78, and 3 times higher than the highest signals from medical students. These results were obtained using as little as 1 microliter of saliva. There were no false negatives. In addition, the test accurately identified all of the negatives. In addition, the test identified all of the medical students as HIV negative, thus there were no false positives.

Methods, Diagnosis, HIV infection, HIV infections, HIV testing, HIV tests

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