Since tumor markers can be increased in the course of many benign diseases, the aim of this study was to verify if this also occurs in the course of rheumatic diseases.
We investigated the incidence and characteristics of Tumor M2-PK in the EDTA-plasma of 137 patients suffering from rheumatic diseases.
The tumor M2-PK concentration was increased in 52 out of 63 patients (82%) with classical rheumatoid arthritis, in 15 out of 21 patients (71%) with systemic lupus erythematosus, in 14 out of 17 patients (82%) with seronegative spondylarthritis and in 13 out of 28 patients with miscellaneous rheumatic diseases (46%). Malignant neoplasm was not detected in any of the patients with rheumatic diseases.
These results demonstrated that the EDTA-plasma concentrations of Tumor M2-PK were increased in patients with rheumatic diseases.