Correlation between serum tumor abnormal protein expression and chemotherapeutic effect in patients with lung adenocarcinoma

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation between serum tumor abnormal protein (TAP) and chemotherapeutic effect in patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Methods A prospective study was conducted on 90 patients with lung adenocarcinoma Liyuan Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from May 2012 to April 2016. The patients were divided into adjuvant chemotherapy group (30 cases) and palliative chemotherapy group (60 cases) according to the different treatment regimen. The adjuvant chemotherapy group was treated with FOLFOX regimen for postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The palliative chemotherapy group was treated with pemetrexed. The t test was used to compare the expression levels of TAP in both groups. The χ2 test was used to compare the relationship among expression of TAP, the positive results of tumor markers and the efficacy of chemotherapy. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the expression level of TAP and changes of tumor markers. Results There was no statistically significant difference in serum TAP between the two groups before palliative chemotherapy [area of TAP condensed matter were (230±80) μm2 and (206±50) μm2, t= 1.487, P 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in positive expression of tumor markers CA125, CEA, CA19-9 and ALP (χ2 values were 4.02, 3.81, 4.01, 5.01, all P > 0.05). In the two groups, the changes of serum TAP before and after chemotherapy had no relationship with age, gender, pathological differentiation degree and the number of transfer viscera (all P > 0.05). The expression of serum TAP, CEA and CA19-9 after chemotherapy in palliative chemotherapy group were related to the efficacy of chemotherapy (χ2= 6.62, 7.78, 8.62, all P 0.05). The serum TAP level of the adjuvant chemotherapy group was positively correlated with the level of tumor marker CA125 (r= 0.51, P= 0.02), with no correlation with the changes of CEA, CA19-9 and ALP levels (r values were 0.20, 0.24, 0.19, all P > 0.05). Conclusion The detection of serum TAP level in patients with lung adenocarcinoma has good accuracy and high sensitivity, which indicates that the serum level of TAP in patients with lung adenocarcinoma before and after chemotherapy can be used as an index to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapy and an independent detection of lung adenocarcinoma. Key words: Lung neoplasms; Adenocarcinoma; Tumor abnormal protein; Antigens, tumor-associated; Treatment outcome