Serum CEA Level Change and Its Significance Before and after Gefitinib Therapy on Patients with Advanced Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore change and significance of serum carcino-embryonic antigen(CEA) before and after gefitinib therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods:Forty patients with advanced NSCLCs in Ⅲ~Ⅳ stages were selected as study objects given gefitinib therapycombined with routine local radiotherapy until tumor progression or intolerable toxicity. After treatment,all patients were divided into control and non-control groups according to the results of evaluation based onRECIST 1.1 (Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors in 2009). Peripheral fasting blood from all patientswas collected in the early morning and serum CEA was assessed by electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay(ECLIA) before and after treatment. Before treatment, patients were divided into high CEA group (CEA level > 50ng/mL) and low CEA group (CEA level ≤ 50 ng/mL). Adverse reactions were noted and progression-free survival(PFS) in both groups was recorded after long-term follow-up that ended in December, 2012.
Results: There wasno difference between control and non-control groups in CEA level before treatment (P>0.05), whereas serumCEA decreased more markedly lower in the control group after treatment (P<0.01). All patients were dividedinto high CEA group (26) and low CEA group (14) according to serum CEA level. There was no statisticallysignificant difference between two groups in adverse reactions (P>0.05) but the rate in former group was lower.Additionally, survival rates at 9 and 12 months in high CEA group were clearly higher than in the low CEAgroup (P<0.01).
Conclusions: Serum CEA level can serve as a biochemical index to evaluate the prognosis withgefitinib treatment for NSCLC.