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H J Staab

Publications and source records attributed to H J Staab.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Prognostic value of preoperative serum CEA level compared to clinical staging. I. Colorectal carcinoma.

In a clinical investigation of observed postoperative survival, 563 patients have been registered for primary surgical treatment of colorectal cancer since 1974. The potential prognostic factors examined within the first days of hospitalization for primary resection included age of the patients, operability, location of the tumour, tumour extension and the preoperative serum CEA level. Statistical treatment of the data revealed that each of the clinical parameters except tumour location covers ranges associated with highly significant differences in survival of the patients. The preoperative serum CEA level gave prognostic information in addition to operability or tumour extension. The prognostic significance of the preoperative CEA level was still evident when selected subgroups of patients with distinct resectability and tumour extension were examined. The results indicate that the preoperative serum CEA level is an independent prognostic parameter.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1981

Comparison of serum beta 2-microglobulin and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in the follow-up of breast cancer patients.

Using commercially available radioimmune test kits, serial determinations of serum beta 2-microglobulin and CEA were performed in 337 patients, who had been treated for breast cancer by modified radical mastectomy and radiotherapy. The pre-therapeutic data indicated a higher incidence of pathological beta 2-microglobulin and CEA levels in patients with distant metastases than in patients with localized disease. However, this finding did not allow the conclusion of a direct complementarity of beta 2-microglobulin and CEA as tumour markers, since the group of patients with distant metastasis contained a high percentage of elderly patients who generally can be expected to have elevated beta 2-microglobulin serum concentrations. Therefore, the correlation of the clinical course of malignant disease and the incidence of relapses with the changes of serum beta 2-microglobulin and CEA concentrations was examined during the post-treatment surveillance: 7/9 cases (78%) with local recurrence and 46/73 cases (63%) with distant spread of disease were not indicated in the beta 2-microglobulin follow-up by pathologic serum concentrations, whereas in the CEA follow-up only 1/9 and 2/73 false negative indications were registered. The poor correlation suggests that serum beta 2-microglobulin is not directly tumour associated in breast cancer and does not fulfill the criteria of a tumour marker.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Interlaboratory investigation on the CEA assay (Roche) with column filtration, dialysis and ultrafiltration techniques.

An interlaboratory study on the reproducibility of the CEA (Roche) RIA Test was carried out. Four different plasma pools of approximately 2, 3, 6, and 12 micrograms/l CEA were tested over a period of 4 weeks with 4 different lots of reagents in order to determine the interassay variances. At the same time we compared the lately introduced column technique with the dialysis and ultrafiltration method. Best results were obtained with the column technique which also showed best reproducibility. Only 1.4% of samples showed deviations greater than 5% between the mean of CEA duplicates and single CEA values, and these were omitted from the evaluation. On the other hand about 15% of the corresponding dialysis results showed deviations greater than 5% and were excluded from the evaluation. The methods compared showed a good correlation with a coefficient of 0.96, but the average values for the CEA determination, using the columns technique were lower than those obtained from dialysis. Interassay variances were greater for the dialysis procedures, i.e. 1.88 +/- 0.81, 3.25 +/- 0.83, 5.81 +/- 1.09, and 11-91 +/- 1.23 compared with 1.77 +/- 0.54, 2.63 +/- 0.68, 4.89 +/- 0.79, and 11.16 +/- 1.23 for the column technique. There were no systematic changes of the CEA values over the period of 4 weeks, thus giving optimal conditions for a follow up of patients.

Carcinoembryonic Antigen↗
PubMed1980

Is serum beta 2-microglobulin a tumor marker in gastrointestinal cancer?

Serial determinations of serum beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2m) and carcinoembryogenic antigen (CEA) were performed in 314 patients with histologically confirmed gastrointestinal cancer. The data were correlated with a set of clinical parameters. Pre-operative serum beta 2m levels did not discriminate different classes of tumor extension nor different stages of resectability of tumors in contrast to CEA. During post-operative surveillance the correlation of the time courses of serum beta 2m and CEA with the clinical course of malignant disease was studied in a selected group of 165 patients with resected primary carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract. During the follow-up 74/165 patients showed disease progression or recurrence. In the beta 2m follow-up 66% false negative indications (49/74) of malignant disease were observed, whereas in the CEA follow-up it was 5% (4/74). The ratio of correct positive/false positive indications was 25/10 in the beta 2m follow-up and 70/10 in the CEA follow-up. The data indicate that the formation of serum beta 2m is not directly tumor associated in gastrointestinal cancer.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

[Relapse prognosis for patients with adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract on the basis of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and its circulating immune complexes (author's transl)].

CEA immune complexes and free CEA were routinely determined in sera of 350 patients with adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract preoperatively and during a 2-year surveillance period. We could detect circulating CEA immune complexes preoperatively in 25% of our patients. The appearance of CEA immune complexes prove to be a useful prognostic marker with respect to tumor extension since 72/86 patients with CEA immune complexes showed metastasis at the primary resection. The postoperative appearance of CEA immune complexes could be used as an additional parameter for the diagnosis of the relapse; 32/60 patients with a relapse developed CEA immune complexes during the period of surveillance. All patients with localized disease recurrence were found to be free of CEA immune complexes. Detection of CEA immune complexes, however, coincided always with the clinical diagnosis of distant spread of disease. This diagnosis was always preceded by an increase of free CEA and/or CEA immune complexes. In 50/60 patients the relapse could only be demonstrated by clinical methods since these patients stayed CEA-negative throughout the surveillance period.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

Are circulating CEA immune complexes a prognostic marker in patients with carcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract?

CEA immune complexes and free CEA were determined to 363 patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract before surgery and in a post-operative follow-up. Circulating CEA immune complexes (CEA-IC) could be detected preoperatively in 89 patients. Incidence of CEA-IC increased with increasing tumour extension; 72/89 patients with CEA-IC showed already metastatic disease progression, 40/89 had nonresectable tumours. Patients with preoperative CEA-IC had a poorer prognosis than patients without CEA-IC but with high levels of free CEA, or CEA-negative patients. The appearance of CEA-IC with consecutive increases in the postoperative follow-up indicated disease recurrence. In 32/55 relapse cases, circulating CEA-IC were detected postoperatively, all 32 cases developing metastatic spread of disease.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurements as an aid to management of patients with lung cancer treated by radiotherapy.

Serial CEA measurements performed in 102 lung cancer patients during and after radiotherapy and chemotherapy correlated well with the course of disease. CEA levels above 10 ng CEA/ml prior to radiotherapy signaled metastatic spread even when this was not evident from clinical staging of the patient (TNM). This finding contributed to the early adoption of radiotherapy in favor of palliative treatment. Alterations of the CEA concentration during therapy could be used for monitoring the efficiency of treatment. Increasing CEA levels always signaled disease progression, decreasing CEA levels were found to be associated with improvement. In the posttreatment follow-up, increasing CEA levels were always reliable predictors of recurrent disease. Slope analysis of the posttreatment CEA time courses discriminated bone and/or liver metastases with a slope greater than 0.5 ng/ml/10 days from local recurrences, lymph node, lung and brain metastases with slope values less than 0.5 ng/ml/10 days.

Carcinoembryonic Antigen↗
PubMed1980

Serial carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) determinations in the management of patients with breast cancer.

Serial CEA determination have been performed in 335 patients with operable breast cancer who received radiotherapy and then were the subjects of a long-term follow-up study. Tumor extension was staged by the surgeon according to the TNM classification. Elevated pretreatment CEA levels (greater than 10 ng/ml) indicated metastatic spread even when this was not evident from the original TNM classification. Elevated CEA levels of greater than 4 ng/ml also led to a reevaluation of patients and in 20% metastatic spread was found. Therapy was adapted when patients had demonstrable distant spread. Response to treatment could be correlated with decreasing CEA levels while increasing CEA levels were generally found when disease progression was observed. During long-term CEA follow-up, 80% of recurrent cancers were signaled by increasing CEA levels. A mean lead time of 4.8 months was calculated for the initial CEA increase before clinical confirmation. Slope analysis of the posttreatment CEA time course represented a numerical parameter which was characteristic for osseous and/or liver metastases when values of greater than 0.5 ng/ml/10 days were recorded. Soft tissue, lymph node, lung and brain metastases showed generally a slope value of less than 0.5 ng/ml/10 days.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

[Prognostic value of circulating immune complexes of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in patients with adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract (author's transl)].

CEA immune complexes and unbound CEA were preoperatively determined in 350 patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract. Circulating CEA immune complexes could be detected in 86 patients (25%) where an increase of tumor extension according to TNM classification was concomitant with an increasing percentage of patients with CEA immune complexes. 74/86 patients showed simultaneously pathological concentrations of unbound CEA. During postoperative surveillance the determinations of circulating CEA immune complexes could be used as prognostic criteria. In 30/50 patients with recurrent cancer CEA immune complexes were detected latest at the time of clinical diagnosis. Appearance of CEA immune complexes might contribute to characterization of the immune status of the patients. Some of the patients with widespread tumors exhibited a rapid increase of CEA immune complexes a few months before exitus (44% of the patients). Before exitus 13% of the patients again showed a greatly decreased concentration of CEA-immune complexes.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

Serial CEA determinations as an aid in postoperative therapy management of patients with early breast cancer.

Serial CEA measurements as an aid in routine clinical diagnostic methods was investigated in 69 women with early breast cancer. In 14/69 cases detection of metastatic spread on the basis of elevated pretreatment CEA levels together with clinical aspects led to early adaption of treatment. 27 patients had no metastatic spread (group I) and 28 patients had lymph node metastases (group II). During the follow-up of 55 patients of group I and II, disease progression was signaled by rising CEA values in 10/11 cases with a lead time of up to 8 months before a positive clinical diagnosis was possible. For another 6 patients disease progression has to be expected because of consecutively increasing CEA levels. Patients of group II exhibited a higher frequency of relapses compared to group I patients. Decreasing CEA levels could be correlated in our study with patients who were considered to have had a successful treatment by local radiotherapy and who showed no recurrence during surveillance period along with normal CEA values. About 30% of the patients, however, showed essentially unchanged CEA levels mostly in the normal range.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Carcinoembryonic antigen follow-up and selection of patients for second-look operation in management of gastrointestinal carcinoma.

A long-term postoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) follow-up study is carried out with patients having undergone primary resection of histologically proved adenocarcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract. Up to now, 122 patients who underwent curative resections, as judged from the situs and the results of histologic examinations, were followed up for tumor recurrence by computerized CEA surveillance diagrams and clinical diagnostic methods. In the cases of tumor recurrence the rise of the CEA level preceded a positive clinical diagnosis by a mean of 4 months. On the basis of the CEA time course, we selected 28 patients for second-look surgery. In all cases proof of recurrence of the disease was obtained. A local recurrence correlating with a slow CEA rise was generally resectable, metastases correlating with a rapid CEA rise were only in some cases resectable, provided that second-look surgery was carried out without delay.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1978

Chemical modification and immunogenicity of membrane fractions from mouse tumour cells.

A crude membrane fraction isolated from mouse tumour cells was treated with various chemicals. The effects on the immunogenicity of the membrane sample were tested in syngeneic mice for tumour protection, using a challenge dose of 10(5) viable tumour cells. Best protection was obtained after immunization of mice with a membrane sample modified with dimethylsulphate. Up to 60% of the animals remained tumour free, and the tumour-bearing animals showed a greatly increased mean survival time. The post-challenge sera contained no detectable amounts of cytotoxic antibodies. The membrane sample isolated from tumour cells which had been modified with dimethylsulphate showed less immunogenicity than the modified cells or the membrane fraction from unmodified cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

[Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (author's transl)].

Serial determinations of CEA concentrations in serum were performed postoperatively in 303 patients with histologically confirmed adenocarcinoma of the gastrointestinal tract. The trend of the time course of computerised CEA curves made early diagnosis of recurrence or metastases possible. Diagnosis of recurrence by means of a rise in CEA concentration preceded positive clinical diagnosis by up to 10 months. In all 26 cases confirmation was obtained by second-look operation or other diagnostic means. Analysis of serial CEA measurements made it possible to distinguish between generalised metastasization and local recurrence of the tumour, on the one hand, and limited metastasization at the site of recurrence, on the other.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1977

Immunogenicity of tumour cells modified with various chemicals.

Mouse tumour cells were treated with various chemical modifiers. The number of modifying groups per cell was determined with labelled reagents. The effects of the different modifying groups on the immunogenicity of the tumour cells was tested in syngeneic mice for tumour protection using a challenge dose of viable cells at 1000 or 10,000 time LD100. Best protection was obtained after immunization of animals with tumour cells modified with dimethylsulphate or acetic anhydride, or with glutardialdehyde-fixed cells treated with a carbodiimide and methylamine. Up to 40% of the animals remained tumour-free. The other animals exhibited a greatly increased mean survival time. The post-challenge sera showed no detectable amounts of antibodies against the tumour cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Structure and immunogenic behaviour of methylated tobacco mosaic virus.

Tobacco mosaic virus was methylated, using various concentrations of dimethylsulfate. The methylated virus sample with still intact particles was subjected to sequential analysis. The sites and the degree of methylation were determined in the tryptic peptides. Tyrosine 139 and cysteine 27 are more accessible to methylation than tyrosine 72, lysine 68 and tyrosine 2. A limited number of carboxyl groups was also methylated. The ability of methylated and original tobacco mosaic virus to initiate the formation of humoral antibodies and the capacity to induce a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction were investigated in STU mice. Original tobacco mosaic virus could not induce a delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction but methylated tobacco mosaic virus induced a delayed-type reaction, not depending on whether the virus particles were intact or disintegrated. This phenomenon was strictly linked with the presence of methylester groups.

Animals↗