The impact of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen in patients with advanced cancer of uterine cervix treated with (chemo-)radiotherapy

The impact of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) in the follow-up of patients with advanced cervical cancer treated with (chemo-) radiotherapy in primary and postoperative settings was evaluated. One hundred and forty-one patients with histologically proven squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix were treated at the department of radiotherapy and radiation oncology. The serum level of SCC before treatment was elevated in 72% of the patients (cut-off level: 2.0 ng/ml). The course of SCC levels during (chemo-)radiotherapy reflects the tumor response: those patients, who had no significant decline of tumor marker values, had a lower response rate and worse outcome (p < 0.001). Patients with a SCC level below the median of 7.2 U/ml had a significantly better prognosis and a better treatment response than those above the median (p=0.001). After treatment, 98% of patients with complete remission and 87% of patients with partial remission had a serum level below the cut-off. In the case of recurrent disease, 82% of patients had a significant increase of SCC serum levels (p < 0.001) before clinical manifestation of relapse. The lead- time ranged between one and 16 months (median: 4.5 months). We concluded that SCC is an essential tumor marker for monitoring treatment response and detecting recurrences in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix undergoing (chemo-) radiotherapy. In this retrospective analysis, the value of SCC correlated with prognosis in patients with carcinoma of the cervix treated with (chemo-) radiotherapy.