A CLINICAL STUDY OF PREOPERATIVE SERUM IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE ACIDIC PROTEIN IN GASTRIC CANCER

Abstract

This study was designed to apply immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP), which increases in serum of cancer-bearing patients, to the treatment of patients with gastric cancer. Preoperative IAP level was measured in 143 resected cases of gastric cancer and the relationship with histopathological findings or prognosis was studied. The high IAP levels were observed in the advanced cases. Significantly increased IAP level was noted in the patients in stage N, with lymphnode metastasis, vascural invasion, and subserosal invasion. In curative resection cases, the 5-year survival rate in the high LAP group (more than 580 μg/dl) was significantly poorer than that of low IAP group. Non-curative resection cases had remarkably poor prognosis compared with curative cases, and there was no significant difference in the 5-year survival rate between high and low IAP groups. Further analysis of curative resection cases by considering background factors revealed that in even early cases such as Stage I+II, ps (-), n (-), v (-), and ly (-), high IAP group had poor prognosis compared with low IAP group, with a significant difference. These findings suggest that preoperative lAP level can offer important information for determining the operative method in the cases of early gastric cancer.