Levels of tissue polypeptide antigen in serum and the progression of gastric cancer.
Correlations between levels of tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) in serum and histologic stage or progression of cancer were studied in 94 patients with gastric cancer. Levels of TPA in serum from patients with cancerous invasion into the vein of the stomach wall (v-invasion) were elevated in parallel to the progression of cancer by stage, and were significantly higher in each positive case than in each negative case of lymph node metastasis or of cancerous invasion into lymph vessels of the stomach wall (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.01, respectively). There were no differences in levels of TPA in serum from patients without v-invasion when these cancers were classified by stage, progression, or histologic type. It appears that elevation of levels of TPA in serum is associated with v-invasion, and that a determination of the level of TPA in serum is useful for the prediction of hematogenic metastasis in cases of gastric cancer.