Clinical Interest of the Combined Use of Serum CD26 and Alpha‐L‐Fucosidase in the Early Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer

The purpose of this study was to assess if the combination of CD26 and alpha-L-fucosidase has a role in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, paying particular attention to the stages in which the tumour is not yet disseminated. CD26 concentration and alpha-L-fucosidase activity were determined in sera from 110 colorectal cancer patients and 46 donors. The combination of CD26 and alpha-L-fucosidase showed a specificity of 100% with a sensitivity of 64% in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Interestingly, the combination of both markers had a sensitivity of 75% in the stage I at the highest specificity (100%), providing also high sensitivity levels for the other non-disseminated stages (66% for stages II and III). In conclusion, the combined use of CD26 and alpha-L-fucosidase offers high sensitivity with high specificity in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, especially at the earliest stage (TNM I).