Abstract
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels in patients with prostate cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer and peripheral nerve tumors. NSE levels were determined by ELISA in the sera of 100 prostate cancer, 47 Hodgkin lymphoma, 35 lung cancer and 35 peripheral nerve tumor patients and also in 132 healthy controls. The median levels of serum NSE were elevated in patients with lung cancer (p=0.018) and peripheral nerve tumors (p=0.008). NSE levels in prostate cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma patients were higher than the controls but there was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). We conclude that NSE may be applied in routine to gain insight about the clinical statuses of various cancer patients, but more studies are needed to determine the organ specificity.
Highlights
Serum tumor markers play an important role in diagnosis, determining of the pathology, staging, monitoring the response to the therapy and predicting the prognosis (Zhao and Wang, 2011)
The mean serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels were higher in lung cancer (p=0.018) and peripheral nerve tumor (p=0.008) patients compared with healthy controls (Table 1)
Neuroendocrine differentiation is the characteristic of invasive carcinomas in which there is a transformation of malignant epithelial cells into neurosecretory cells
Summary
Serum tumor markers play an important role in diagnosis, determining of the pathology, staging, monitoring the response to the therapy and predicting the prognosis (Zhao and Wang, 2011) They are often used in conjunction with other clinical parameters such as biopsy and radiological evidences. Neuron-specific enolase (NSE), the γ homodimer of enolase, was first found in extracts of brain tissue, and was later shown to be present in APUD (amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation) cells. It is produced in central and peripheral neurons (Greenberg and Lee, 2007). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) levels in patients with prostate cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, lung cancer and peripheral nerve tumors. Conclusions: We conclude that NSE may be applied in routine to gain insight about the clinical statuses of various cancer patients, but more studies are needed to determine the organ specificity.
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