[Clinical value of combined detection of serum human epididymal secretory protein E4 and CA(125) in the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical value of combined detection of serum human epididymal secretory protein E4 (HE4) and CA(125) in the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma. METHODS: From Jan 2010 to Apr 2011, the serum specimens were collected from 124 cases of endometrial carcinoma, 97 cases of benign disease of uterus and 109 cases of healthy women. HE4 levels in the serum were detected by ELISA, and CA(125) levels in the serum were detected by the electro-chemiluminescent immunoassay. Those results were shown with median level. Accuracy of the diagnosis was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC). RESULTS: The median levels of HE4 and CA(125) were 78.09 pmol/L and 33.43 kU/L in serum of endometrial carcinoma group. The median levels of HE4 and CA(125) were 46.37 pmol/L and 18.26 kU/L in serum of benign disease of uterus group. The median levels of HE4 and CA(125) were 31.75 pmol/L and 12.64 kU/L in serum of healthy women group. The HE4 and CA(125) levels in serum of endometrial carcinoma group were significantly higher than those of benign disease of uterus group or healthy women group (all P < 0.05). Compared with that benign disease of uterus group, the ROC-AUC of HE4 and CA(125) in endometrial carcinoma group were 0.913 and 0.801, respectively. When the specificity was 95.0%, the sensitivities of HE4, CA(125), and combined detection of HE4 and CA(125) in endometrial carcinoma group were 41.1%, 22.6% and 46.0%, respectively. The positive rates of HE4 and CA(125) were 31% (27/86) and 12% (10/86) in stage I-II of endometrial carcinoma, while the positive rates were 63% (24/38) and 47% (18/38) in stage III-IV of endometrial carcinoma, in which there were significant difference between patients in stage III-IV and stage I-II (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The combined detection of serum HE4 and CA(125) is helpful to the diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma. The sensitivity, specificity and early diagnosis of HE4 are better than that of CA(125). The positive rates of HE4 and CA(125) in endometrial carcinoma are related to the clinical staging.