Exploring Blood-Based Biomarkers for SCCA

In this week's cover paper of Oncotarget (Volume 12, Issue 11) entitled, "CEA as a blood-based biomarker in anal cancer," researchers from The University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center, Terasaki Foundation of Biomedical Sciences, and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center conducted a retrospective, single-institution study to determine the correlation between carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels (a commonly employed assay for patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma) and biopsy-proven Squamous cell carcinoma of the anal canal (SCCA). The researchers retrospectively analyzed 219 patients who were treated at The University of Texas – MD Anderson Cancer Center between 2013 and 2020. The team collected demographic data, clinical history, and CEA levels, including gender, ethnicity, stage at initial diagnosis of SCCA, HPV status, HIV status, and smoking history. Patients with coexisting second primary cancers besides SCCA were excluded from their analysis. The median age of patients in the study was 56 years old, 74% were female, and 89% were of Caucasian ethnicity. At the time of the initial CEA measurement, patients were at various stages of SCCA, with 39% in stage III and 41% with metastatic disease to distant organs. 67% of patients had currently or previously tested positive for HPV infection. Statistical analysis was calculated using the summarized demographic and clinical characteristics of patients as means with associated standard deviations. “Here we report the largest series detailing the relevance of CEA as a biomarker for patients with SCCA.” Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.27959 DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.27959 Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27959/text/ Correspondence to - Van K. Morris - vkmorris@mdanderson.org Keywords - carcinoembryonic antigen, squamous cell carcinoma of anal canal, anal cancer, biomarkers, HPV About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/OncotargetYouTube/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957