Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and
aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) are present in
gastric cancer cells (GC). Moreover, the activity of total ADH and class IV
isoenzymes is significantly higher in
cancer tissue than in healthy mucosa. The activity of these
enzymes in
cancer cells is probably reflected in the sera and could thus be helpful for diagnostics of
gastric cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate a potential role of ADH and ALDH as
tumor markers for
gastric cancer. We defined diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, predictive value for positive and negative results, and receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curve for tested
enzymes. Serum samples were taken from 168 patients with
gastric cancer before treatment and from 168 control subjects. Total ADH activity and class III and IV
isoenzymes were measured by photometric but ALDH activity and ADH I and II by the fluorometric method, with class-specific
fluorogenic substrates. There was significant increase in the activity of ADH IV
isoenzyme and ADH total in the sera of
gastric cancer patients compared to the control. The diagnostic sensitivity for ADH IV was 73%, specificity 79%, positive and negative predictive values were 81 and 72% respectively. Area under ROC curve for ADH IV was 0.67. The results suggest a potential role for ADH IV as marker of
gastric cancer.