The pursuit of the ideal
tumor marker has generated many tests for use in the diagnosis and management of
cancer, several of which are now widely available. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic utility as a
cancer marker of plasmatic levels of
ceruloplasmin.
Ceruloplasmin is a glucoprotein that transports serum
copper. A case-control design was used. Serum values were evaluated in 144 patients and 103 normal controls by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to define the optimal cut-off levels for the serum values of
ceruloplasmin in the diagnosis of
cancer. The ROC analysis showed that
ceruloplasmin is considerably sensitive in men (80%) at the specificity level of 80.3% and in women the sensitivity (Se) was (63.2%) and the specificity (Sp) was (63.3%). According to this study, it would seem optimal to use the cut-off level of 358 mg/l in men and 383 mg/l in women. In conclusion, serum
ceruloplasmin was significantly elevated in advanced stages of solid malignant
tumors, however, locally advanced or locoregionally spreading
tumors did lead to significant increases (P < 0.01). Finally, the results of ROC curve analysis suggest that the
ceruloplasmin is characteristic of good diagnostic markers.