Abstract
Background. Recent studies have revealed that clusterin is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis. However, the relationship between serum clusterin expression and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unclear. Methods. The serum clusterin concentrations of 87 ESCC patients and 136 healthy individuals were examined. An independent-samples Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare serum clusterin concentrations of ESCC patients to those of healthy controls. Univariate analysis was conducted using the log-rank test and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results. In healthy controls, the mean clusterin concentration was 288.8 ± 75.1 μg/mL, while in the ESCC patients, the mean clusterin concentration was higher at 412.3 ± 159.4 μg/mL (P < 0.0001). The 1-, 2-, and 4-year survival rates for the 87 ESCC patients were 89.70%, 80.00%, and 54.50%. Serum clusterin had an optimal diagnostic cut-off point (serum clusterin concentration = 335.5 μg/mL) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with sensitivity of 71.26% and specificity of 77.94%. And higher serum clusterin concentration (>500 μg/mL) indicated better prognosis (P = 0.030). Conclusions. Clusterin may play a key role during tumorigenesis and tumor progression of ESCC and it could be applied in clinical work as a tumor marker and prognostic factor.
Highlights
Recent studies have revealed that clusterin is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis
Excluding one esophageal adenocarcinoma patient, one neuroendocrine carcinoma patient, two compound carcinoma patients, one patient with uncertain pathology, and two patients without a clusterin concentration report, the remaining 87 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients were included in this study after receiving their paraffin pathology reports
Our study, which established an expression model of serum secreted clusterin (sCLU) in ESCC patients, aimed to analyze the expression features of serum sCLU in ESCC patients and the relationship between serum sCLU expression and ESCC patient prognosis
Summary
Recent studies have revealed that clusterin is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis. The relationship between serum clusterin expression and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unclear. The serum clusterin concentrations of 87 ESCC patients and 136 healthy individuals were examined. An independent-samples Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare serum clusterin concentrations of ESCC patients to those of healthy controls. Despite great advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the overall 5-year survival rate for ESCC patients is as low as 36% [3]. Clusterin, which was originally identified as serum apolipoprotein J [4], has more recently been found to be expressed widely in human tissues and body fluids and to play an important role in tissue remodeling, reproduction, lipid transport, complement regulation, and apoptosis [5]. The aim of our study was to investigate the serum sCLU expression in ESCC patients and to examine the prognostic value of clusterin
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
