CRP and neoplasm: When the patients were divided into four groups according to individual pre-treatment levels of SCC-Ag and CRP, a close association was observed between higher levels of SCC-Ag (≥2.0 ng/ml) and CRP (≥5.0 mg/L) and clinical stage (χ2 trend test: P<0.001), clinical tumor status (χ2 trend test: P<0.001), and clinical nodal status (χ2 trend test: P<0.001) (Table 3).