The levels of 6 circulating tumor markers were evaluated in a total of 131 female subjects with altered thyroid states; 36 normal subjects, 46 hyperthyroid patients with Graves' disease, and 49 primary hypothyroid patients.
The mean CEA concentration was observed to be significantly higher (p<0.02) in hypothyroid patients than in normal and hyperthyroid patients (1.1±0.1ng/ml, 0.8±0.1ng/ml and 0.8±0.1ng/ml, respectively). Similarily, the mean serum CA 125 concentration in hypothyroid patients was higher (p<0.02) than in normal and hyperthyroid patients (13.0±2.6 U/ml, 7.6±1.1 U/ml and 5.5±0.8 U/ml, respectively), and the mean serum CA 15-3 concentration in hypothyroid patients was significantly higher than in normal subjects (p<0.01) and hyperthyroid patients (p<0.001)(16.2±0.9 U/ml, 13.9±0.6 U/ml and 10.6±0.5 U/ml, respectively). No statistical difference was found in mean CA 19-9 in the three subject groups. AFP in the hypothyroid patients (3.6±0.3ng/ml) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in normal subjects (2.6±0.2ng/ml) and hyperthyroid patients (1.7±0.2ng/ml)(p<0.01). On the other hand, serum ferritin was low in the hypothyroid patients (65.9 8.0ng/ml) and significantly increased (69.1±9.0ng/ml)(p<0.02) with the normalization of thyroid function. In hyperthyroidism, serum ferritin (70.2±7.0 ng/ml) was significantly higher than in the hypothyroid patients (p<0.01).
A significant inverse correlation was found between AFP, CEA, CA 15-3, and CA 125 with T₃, T₄, FT₃ and FT₄. There was a significant positive correlation between ferritin and FT₃ and FT₄ in hyperthyroid patients. Further, the same positive correlation was observed in all subjects. Our data suggest that when patients are suffering from hyper-or hypothyroidism, caution should be taken when reading the tumor marker concentration.