Related Tumor Markers Research Articles

LGALS3BP is a novel and potential biomarker in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common solid renal tumor. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the related tumor markers. LGALS3BP (galectin 3 binding protein) is a multifunctional glycoprotein implicated in immunity and cancer. Some studies have shown that LGALS3BP promotes the occurrence and development of tumors. However, their exact role in renal tumorigenesis remains unclear. Our study used a webserver to explore the mRNA expression and clinical features of LGALS3BP in ccRCC. Survival analysis showed that patients with high LGALS3BP expression had significantly worse OS and DFS than those with low LGALS3BP expression. LGALS3BP expression is significantly related to B cells, CD4+ T cells, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. Furthermore, we determined that LGALS3BP is significantly associated with angiogenesis, stemness and proliferation in renal cancer. Three phenotypes may be associated with a poor prognosis. Genes related to proliferation, angiogenesis and stemness were derived from a Venn diagram of FGF2. FGF2 is negatively correlated with proliferation and positively correlated with angiogenesis. Finally, we screened for drugs that may have potential therapeutic value for ccRCC. The PCR results showed that the expression of LGALS3BP in the normal cell line was lower than that in the tumor cell lines. After LGALS3BP knockdown, the proliferation of 769-P and 786-O cells decreased. The present findings show that LGALS3BP is critical for ccRCC cell proliferation and may be a potential target and biomarker for ccRCC.

Nitrogen-doped dodecahedral hollow carbon combined with amplification strategy to construct ultra-sensitive self-powered biosensor for highly stable and real-time monitoring microRNA

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are closely bound up with the occurrence and deterioration of some cancers, and their early diagnoses have aroused great interest. However, stable and ultra-sensitive real-time detection remains challenge. In this work, we report a strategy for real-time ultrasensitive detection of miRNA-21 by capacitor/enzymatic biofuel cell based self-powered biosensor (EBFC-SPB) with hybridization chain reaction (HCR) for signal amplification. The nitrogen doped dodecahedral hollow carbon (N-DHC) is used for high load, exonuclease III (EXO III)-aided target cells for accurate recognition, and HCR for signal amplification. In addition, the detected signals are further enhanced by a good match with the commercial capacitor, and the real-time portable detection of tumor markers can be achieved by directly reading the data with an Android smartphone. The detection limit of the method is 0.04 fM (S/N = 3) in the linear range of 0.01–5.0 × 103 fM. This method provides reference and theoretical support for the early diagnosis of related tumor markers.

Research Progress of the Clinical Application of Small Cell Lung Cancer Related Tumor Markers and Biochemical Indicators

With continual advances in medicine, more studies on early diagnosis, therapeutic evaluation, and prognosis of lung cancer have emerged in recent years, particularly in regard to small cell lung cancer (SCLC), which is a pathological type of lung cancer with the highest grade. In the era of medical treatment scarcity, early diagnosis of SCLC, evaluation of treatment effect, recurrence factors, and prognosis are important to treat patients with SCLC, prolong their survival, and improve their life quality. The research on the changes of serum tumor markers and biochemical indicators in the early diagnosis and treatment of SCLC has gradually become a hot topic. Therefore, this article reviews the research progress of serum tumor markers and biochemical indicators of SCLC.

The chemopreventive effect of thymol against dimethylhydrazine and/or high fat diet-induced colon cancer in rats: Relevance to NF-κB

AimEvaluating the possible protective effect of thymol as an approach against 1,2 N,N-dimethylhydrazine and/or high-fat diet (HFD)-induced colon cancer. Main methodsAdult male Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups, namely a normal control group, colon cancer groups received DMH (40 mg/kg i.p., twice weekly), 20% HFD and DMH/HFD, thymol (20 mg/kg/day, p.o.), thymol/DMH and thymol/DMH/HFD (treatment of all groups continued for 16 weeks). Key findingsThymol significantly reduced the elevated serum levels of colon related tumor markers carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) as well as the apoptotic marker, caspase-3 compared with the colon cancer group. In addition, it mitigated colonic tissue oxidative stress markers and inflammatory mediators. Moreover, the histopathological study revealed reduction of mucous secretion with elongated nuclei, frequent mitotic figures, focal nuclear stratification, mild interstitial edema, and markedly dilated congested blood vessels, aberrant crypt foci (ACF); adenoma with moderate to severe dysplasia of colon corrected by thymol treatment. SignificanceThe administration of thymol had a promising preclinical protective efficacy and could be considered as a new strategy for the prophylaxis from colon cancer in clinical practices.

Generation of Dual functional Nanobody-Nanoluciferase Fusion and its potential in Bioluminescence Enzyme Immunoassay for trace Glypican-3 in Serum.

Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a serological biomarker for the diagnosis of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but it is a challenging task to develop a bioassay for determination of the trace GPC3 in serum. In this study, Bioluminescense immunoassay based on bifunctional nanobody-nanoluciferase fusion was developed with the ultra-sensitive feature to achieve this goal. First, nanobodies special against GPC-3 binder as biological recognition element were generated by immunization and phage display technology. Second, The best clone GPN2 was fused with nanoluciferase as a dual-functional immunoreagent to establish an ultra-sensitive bioluminescence enzyme immunoassay (BLEIA), which is 30 and 5 times more sensitive than the traditional colorimetric assay and fluorescent assay, respectively. The cross-reactivity analysis of BLEIA showed that there was no cross-reactivity with HCC related tumor markers AFP, CEA, CA19-9 and GPC1/GPC2. The limit of detection (LOD) of developed BLEIA was 1.5 ng/mL, which assured its application in the diagnosis of GPC3 in 94 serum samples. This study indicates that BLEIA based on nanobody-nanoluciferase fusion could be used as a useful tool for the diagnosis of HCC patients.

Early Study of Tumor Abnormal Protein in Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

ObjectiveTo study the correlation between tumor abnormal protein (TAP) and tumor markers, blood glucose, uric acid and coagulation function in gastric adenocarcinoma and to evaluate the clinical application of TAP in the diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma.MethodsA total of 34 nontumor patients and 95 gastric adenocarcinoma patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University were enrolled in this study. Fresh blood from patients’ fingertips was collected, all blood samples were examined with TAP testing kit, and then searched and measured the condensed particulate matter.ResultsThe comparison of TAP between nontumor patients and gastric adenocarcinoma patients was statistically significant (P<0.05). Bivariate correlation analysis was conducted between TAP and other related tumor markers (alpha-fetoprotein, carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19–9 (CA199), carbohydrate antigen 72–4 (CA72-4)), blood glucose, uric acid, and coagulation function-related indicators, and the results showed that the correlation between TAP and CA199, CA72-4, and activated partial prothrombin time was statistically significant. In addition, according to the analysis results, there was no significant difference among TAP and age, height and weight in the tumor population and the nontumor population.ConclusionTAP can be used for the screening and diagnosis of gastric adenocarcinoma, and the effect of TAP combined with other indicators is more significant than TAP alone.

宫颈癌相关肿瘤标志物研究进展

宫颈癌相关肿瘤标志物研究进展

Addition of HER2 and CD44 to 18F-FDG PET\u2013based clinico-radiomic models enhances prediction of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy response in esophageal cancer

ObjectivesTo assess the complementary value of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-related biological tumor markers to clinico-radiomic models in predicting complete response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) in esophageal cancer patients.MethodsExpression of HER2 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in pre-treatment tumor biopsies of 96 patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer. Five other potentially active HER2-related biological tumor markers in esophageal cancer were examined in a sub-analysis on 43 patients. Patients received at least four of the five cycles of chemotherapy and full radiotherapy regimen followed by esophagectomy. Three reference clinico-radiomic models based on 18F-FDG PET were constructed to predict pathologic response, which was categorized into complete versus incomplete (Mandard tumor regression grade 1 vs. 2–5). The complementary value of the biological tumor markers was evaluated by internal validation through bootstrapping.ResultsPathologic examination revealed 21 (22%) complete and 75 (78%) incomplete responders. HER2 and cluster of differentiation 44 (CD44), analyzed in the sub-analysis, were univariably associated with pathologic response. Incorporation of HER2 and CD44 into the reference models improved the overall performance (R2s of 0.221, 0.270, and 0.225) and discrimination AUCs of 0.759, 0.857, and 0.816. All models exhibited moderate to good calibration. The remaining studied biological tumor markers did not yield model improvement.ConclusionsIncorporation of HER2 and CD44 into clinico-radiomic prediction models improved NCRT response prediction in esophageal cancer. These biological tumor markers are promising in initial response evaluation.Key Points• A multimodality approach, integrating independent genomic and radiomic information, is promising to improve prediction of γpCR in patients with esophageal cancer.• HER2 and CD44 are potential biological tumor markers in the initial work-up of patients with esophageal cancer.• Prediction models combining 18F-FDG PET radiomic features with HER2 and CD44 may be useful in the decision to omit surgery after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in patients with esophageal cancer.

Study on glycoprotein terahertz time-domain spectroscopy based on composite multiscale entropy feature extraction method.

Tumor genesis is accompanied by glycosylation of related proteins. Glycoprotein is usually regarded as a tumor marker since glycoproteins are consumed remarkably more by the cancer cells than the normal ones. In this paper, the terahertz time-domain attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique is applied to inspect the glycoprotein solution from a concentration gradient of 0.2mg/ml to 50mg/ml. A significant nonlinear relationship between the absorption coefficient and the concentrations has been discovered. The influence of the dynamical hydration shell around glycoprotein molecules on the absorption coefficient is discussed and the phenomenon is explained by the concepts of THz excess and THz defect. In order to identify glycoproteins, features are obtained by composite multiscale entropy (CMSE) method and clustered by the K-means algorithm. The results indicate that features extracted by the CMSE method are better than the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method in both specificity and sensitivity of recognition. Meanwhile, the absorption coefficient and dielectric loss angle tangent are more suitable for qualitative identification. Research shows that the CMSE method has important directive significance for analyzing glycoprotein terahertz spectroscopy. And it has the potential for glycoprotein related tumor markers identification using terahertz technology in medical applications.

Dynamic study of immunoregulatory factors and tumor markers in patients with advanced gastric cancer before and after chemotherapy

Objective To analyze the dynamic changes of immunoregulatory factors and tumor markers before and after chemotherapy in patients with advanced gastric cancer. Methods From October 2015 to February 2018, 58 patients with chemotherapy AGC in our hospital were selected as gastric cancer group.According to the efficacy of chemotherapy they were divided into effective group, stable group and ineffective group.Meanwhile, 30 healthy persons were selected as normal group.The immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM), T lymphocyte subsets (CD3+ , CD4+ , CD8+ , CD4+ /CD8+ ) and related tumor markers (CEA, CA199, CA242) were compared before and after chemotherapy. Results The levels of IgA((2.11±0.89) g/L), IgM((10.65±4.61) g/L), IgG((1.25±0.45) g/L), CD8+ ((28.12±3.56)%), CEA((40.33±16.24) μg/L), CA199((76.34±21.56) kU/L) and CA242((29.34±9.57)k U/L) in the gastric cancer group were significantly higher than those in the normal group IgA((0.93±0.36) g/L), IgM((6.46±3.59) g/L), IgG((0.65±0.32) g/L), CD8+ ((25.02±4.78)%), CEA((1.81±0.55) μg/L), CA199((7.51±2.67) kU/L), CA242((3.35±1.21) kU/L)(t=6.958, 3.600, 6.495, 3.435, 12.952, 17.370, 14.773, P<0.05), while CD3+ ((64.12±5.12)%), CD4+ ((34.12±4.10)%), CD4+ /CD8+ (1.09±0.28) were lower than the normal group (CD3+ (71.23±7.14)%, CD4+ (39.78±5.20)%, CD4+ /CD8+ (1.47±0.40))(t=5.376, 5.592, 5.192, P<0.05). The total effective rate of AGC patients in gastric cancer group was 79.31 % (46/58), and the ineffective rate was 20.69 % (12/58). IgA, IgG, IgM, and CD8+ in the effective group were significantly lower than those before chemotherapy (t=3.925, 3.745, 4.036, 2.661, P<0.05), while CD3+ , CD4+ , CD4+ /CD8+ were significantly higher than before chemotherapy (t=3.520, 3.077, 3.218, P<0.05). The subcellular level of protein and T lymphocytes was significantly better than that of stable group and ineffective group (P<0.05). The levels of tumor markers CEA, CA199 and CA242 in the effective group and stable group were significantly lower than those before chemotherapy (P<0.05), and significantly lower than the ineffective group (P<0.05). Conclusion The levels of immunoglobulins, T lymphocyte subsets and tumor markers in patients with AGC have significant changes after chemotherapy, and their levels can guide the efficacy of chemotherapy. Key words: Advanced gastric cancer; Chemotherapy; Immunoglobulin; T lymphocyte subsets; Tumor markers

Analysis of clinicopathological features and prognosis of 1315 cases in colorectal cancer located at different anatomical subsites

PurposeCompare and analyze the clinicopathological features and prognosis of 1315 patients with colorectal cancer located at different anatomical subsites. MethodsA retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinicopathological features and prognosis from 1315 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent surgery in the department of gastrointestinal surgery at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University from January 2013 to January 2019. Among them, 287 patients were divided into the right-sided colon cancer (RCC) group; 329 patients were included into the left-sided colon cancer (LCC) group and the remaining 699 patients were assigned to the rectal cancer (RC) group. Clinicopathological features such as gender, age, pathological differentiation, neurovascular invasion, TNM stage, related tumor markers, maximum tumor diameter (MTD), median survival time and overall survival rate were extracted and analyzed. ResultsPatients in the RCC group had the oldest age of onset, highest positive rate of serum CA199 and greatest number of poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas among the three groups and significant statistical differences were found. The RC group had the highest positive rate of vascular invasion (42.9%) and the greatest number of patients in stage I and IV (19% and 3.9%, respectively). Besides, the number of patients with stage T1-T2 adenocarcinoma in RC group was also the highest among the three groups. There were no significant differences in gender, perineural invasion as well as serum levels of CEA, CA724 and CA242. The median survival time of RCC, LCC and RC were 72, 70 and 73 months, respectively, with significant inter-group differences (P = 0.049). ConclusionThe age of onset of right-sided colon cancer is the oldest on average and poorly differentiated tumors accounted for the highest proportion. Besides, average maximum tumor diameter is the largest in right-sided colon cancer. In terms of median survival time, LCC is worse than RCC and RC. Colorectal cancer at different anatomical subsites has different epidemiological, clinicopathological features and prognosis. Fully understanding the clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer at different anatomical subsites is of certain guiding significance for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer, and is conducive to individualized treatment and accurate treatment.

妇科肿瘤相关肿瘤标志物的研究现状与进展

妇科肿瘤相关肿瘤标志物的研究现状与进展

Changes in blood glucose of elderly patients with gastric cancer combined with type 2 diabetes mellitus after radical operation and the effect of mediation adjustment for blood glucose on the recovery of gastric cancer.

This study aimed to investigate the changes in blood glucose of elderly patients with gastric cancer combined with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) after radical operation. Forty-six patients in DM group and 30 patients in non-DM group underwent radical surgery between January, 2007 and January, 2017 in The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, and the clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Statistical analysis was conducted to explore the effect of radical operation on blood glucose control of the two groups of patients. In 46 patients with gastric cancer combined with T2DM, 24 patients received postoperative insulin intervention, and the remaining 22 patients did not receive insulin intervention. This latter set of patients comprised the non-insulin treatment group. Blood glucose control conditions, inflammatory markers, tumor markers and their effects on the prognosis were compared between the two groups. Level of postoperative blood glucose of the DM group was significantly higher than that of the non-DM group (P<0.05), while the level of blood glucose in the insulin treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05). Levels of related tumor markers and inflammatory factors of insulin treatment group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P<0.05). The 5-year survival rate of insulin treatment group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Our results showed that the level of blood glucose was significantly increased in elderly patients with gastric cancer combined with T2DM after radical operation, and levels of blood glucose, tumor markers and inflammatory factors in elderly gastric cancer patients with T2DM without insulin were significantly increased after radical operation, and long-term prognosis is poor.

Correlations of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Gastrointestinal Related Tumor Markers and Tumor Recurrence Risk

The relationship of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with the prognosis of gastrointestinal (GI) tumor remains unclear. Here we studied the correlations of T2DM with GI related tumor markers and recurrence risk among 370 patients with gastric cancer and colorectal cancer underwent radical surgery in our hospital from 2011 to 2014. Recurrence was evaluated during postoperative follow-up till 2017. The differences in GI related tumor markers (CEA, CA199, CA724, CA50 and CA242) between T2DM and non-DM group were compared. The correlation of T2DM with GI tumor recurrence risk were analyzed using Cox regression analysis. Moreover, patients with T2DM were divided into subgroups according to duration (0-5 years, 6-10 years, and &amp;gt;10 years) and HbA1c (&amp;lt;6.5%, 6.5-7.49%, and ≥7.5%). Of 370 patients, 68 (18.4%) were type 2 diabetics. After a median follow-up time of 47 months, 76 cases (30.7%) had recurrence. The CEA (Ln-transformed, 1.89±1.37 vs. 1.06±1.20, P&amp;lt;0.001), CA199 (2.68±1.57 vs. 2.43±1.30, P=0.021) and CA724 (1.66±1.47 vs. 1.01±1.08, P=0.001) in T2DM group were remarkably higher than those in non-DM group, and no significant differences were observed in CA50 and CA242 between two groups (P&amp;gt;0.05); FPG was positively correlated with CEA (r=0.182, P&amp;lt;0.001) and CA199 (r=0.143, P=0.007). Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the recurrence risk was positively correlated with T2DM, age, BMI, CEA, CA199, CA724, TNM stages, lymphatic metastasis, perineural invasion (all P&amp;lt;0.05), which increased with the increases in T2DM duration (OR1=1.738, OR2=2.314, OR3=3.325, all P&amp;lt;0.05) and HbA1c (OR1=1.909, OR2=2.331, OR3=2.362, all P&amp;lt;0.05). Besides, multivariate analysis revealed that T2DM remained the independent risk factor of recurrence after adjusting the above confounding factors (OR=1.701, 95% CI: 0.980-2.951, P=0.039). Hence, T2DM contributes to higher levels of CEA, CA199, CA724 and increased recurrence risk of GI tumor in China. Disclosure M. Chen: None. S. Yang: None. N. Li: None. Y. Wang: None. L. Xu: None. J. Dong: None. X. Zhou: None. H. Li: None. S. Qu: None.

Retrospective Study to Determine Diagnostic Utility of 6 Commonly Used Lung Cancer Biomarkers Among Han and Uygur Population in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China.

Early diagnosis was the main way to improve the survival rate of lung cancer patients. At present, the methods to diagnose lung cancer were varied, but early diagnosis of lung cancer was still difficult. In experimental and clinical studies, lung cancer related tumor markers were helpful to the early diagnosis of lung cancer. So far, there were many studies about lung cancer related tumor markers in China, but the subjects in these studies were almost the Han population. There were few studies about the Uygur population. Xinjiang was a multi-ethnic region in China, the ratios of Han and Uygur population were 40% and 45%, respectively. Xinjiang also was a high incidence area of lung cancer in China. The purpose of this study was to research the application of 6 tumor markers in Uygur and Han lung cancer patients in XinJiang, China.The study collected 342 cases who were diagnosed as lung cancer in Tumor Hospital Affiliated to XinJiang Medical University from May 2012 to December 2012. Serum concentrations of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), cytokeratin fragment 19 (CYFRA21-1), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), precursor of gastrin-releasing peptide (Pro-GRP), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were tested for every patient before radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. The serum concentrations of SCC, CYFRA21-1, CEA, CA125, and Pro-GRP were assayed using the micro-particle luminescence analysis testing by the Abbott ARHCITECT i2000SR immunoanalyzer. NSE was assayed by the electrochemical luminescence analysis testing using Roche Cobas E601 electrochemical luminescence analyzer.Serum levels of SCC were different between 2 ethnic populations, smoking should be the influence factor to create the difference. Cluster analysis showed that the NSE and Pro-GRP were helpful to identify small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and CEA, CA125, SCC, CYFRA21-1 were beneficial to diagnose non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The compare of diagnosis value about serum tumor markers also proved the result of cluster analysis. No matter SCLC or NSCLC, the positives rate of all tumor markers were increasing as clinical stage advancing. Pro-GRP had higher positive rate than NSE in limited stage of SCLC. CA125 had the highest positive rate in I and II stage of NSCLC, and CYFRA21-1 had the highest positive rate in III and IV stage of NSCLC. CEA and CA125 were beneficial to diagnose adenocarcinoma, CYFRA21-1, and SCC identified squamous cell cancer better.Only SCC level was higher in Han population than Uygur population because of the differences of smoking constituent ratio between 2 populations. So, it could be unified to research the application value of the 6 indicators for the Han and Uygur population. Then, we suggested a primary diagnostic utility of 6 commonly by lung cancer biomarkers in both the Han and Uygur populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China.

Tumor markers: A diagnostic tool.

The purpose of this review is to give a brief background to enable the judicious use of widely performed serum cancer markers. The markers could be product of cancerous cell or as response to cancer. They are usually proteins, which are mainly found in blood or urine. These markers may be employed to predict primary or secondary tumor risk. Sometimes, non-cancerous conditions can also cause elevation of some tumor markers to be higher than normal. Besides, not every cancer patient may have raised level of a tumor marker. For these reasons, knowledge about cancer biomarkers has increased tremendously. Awareness for cancer and related tumor markers providing great opportunities for improving the management of cancer patients by enhancing the efficiency of detection and efficacy of treatment.

The relationship between Glasgow Prognostic Score and serum tumor markers in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

BackgroundGlasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) has been reported as a powerful prognostic tool for patients with advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between GPS and prognosis related tumor markers in patients with advanced NSCLC.MethodsWe included 138 advanced NSCLC patients and twenty healthy controls in the study. GPS was calculated by combined serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and albumin. Three serum tumor markers, which included cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1 (CYFRA21–1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and tissue polypeptide specific antigen (TPS), were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). GPS and tumor markers were all assessed before chemotherapy. All patients received at least 2 courses of cisplatin-based chemotherapy. After that, 2 to 5 years follow-up was conducted.ResultsMedian levels of CYFRA21–1 were 1.5 ng/ml (0.1–3.1 ng/ml) in healthy controls, and 4.6 ng/ml (0.7–35.2 ng/ml) in GPS 0 advanced NSCLC, 11.2 ng/ml (0.4–89.2) ng/ml in GPS 1 advanced NSCLC, and 15.7 ng/ml (2.9–134.6 ng/ml) in GPS 2 advanced NSCLC, respectively. Median levels of CYFRA21-1 were higher in NSCLC patients than in healthy controls, and CYFRA21-1 increased gradually according to GPS category in NSCLC patients (P < 0.05). Similar results were found for median levels of CEA and TPS in healthy controls and NSCLC patients (P < 0.05). In NSCLC patients, positive correlations were found between CYFRA21-1 and GPS, CEA and GPS, TPS and GPS. The Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient were 0.67 (P < 0.05), 0.61 (P < 0.05) and 0.55 (P < 0.05), respectively. Survival analyses showed GPS was an independent prognostic factor for advanced NSCLC. CYFRA21-1(>3.3 ng/ml) and TPS (>80 U/l) were related with the prognosis of advanced NSCLC by univariate analyses, but multivariate analyses showed CYFRA21-1, TPS and CEA were not the independent prognostic factors for advanced NSCLC.ConclusionsOur results showed GPS were positive correlated with CYFRA21-1, CEA and TPS in patients with advanced NSCLC. However, GPS was more efficient in predicting prognosis of advanced NSCLC than these three single prognosis related tumor markers.

Current status of gastric cancer markers research

Tumor markers can reflect tumor existence,and open an entrance to diagnose tumor at early stage.Recent researches reveal that gastric cancer related tumor markers such as microRNAs,enzymes,cytokines and antibodies-antigens are significant for the diagnosis,treatment,relapse surveillance,prognosis evaluation of gastric cancer. Key words: Stomach neoplasms; Tumor markers, biological

Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration in patients with lymphadenopathy suspected of recurrent malignancy after curative treatment

The diagnosis of lymphadenopathy after treatment of malignancy is sometimes difficult, especially in patients whose treatment was deemed curative and without local recurrence or those who have increased serum levels of related tumor markers. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) as a diagnostic tool in patients with lymphadenopathy after curative treatment of malignancy. Consecutive patients with mediastinal, intraabdominal, or pelvic lymphadenopathy after curative treatment of malignancy who were referred to our hospital between October 2003 and September 2007 were enrolled in this study. A total of 62 patients were included. The lymph nodes were located at the mediastinum in 22 patients, intraabdomen in 38 patients, and intrapelvis in 2 patients. From the pathological findings of the FNA sample, 31 patients (50%) were confirmed to have recurrence of the prior malignancy, and 9 patients (15%) were diagnosed as having a different new malignancy. The remaining 22 patients (35%) were shown to have no recurrence or no other malignancies. However, 1 of them was later diagnosed with recurrence by open laparotomy. The overall sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and positive and negative predictive values of the EUS-FNA were 97%, 100%, 98%, 100%, and 97%, respectively. Lymphadenopathy after treatment of malignancy is not a definitive sign of recurrence. Therefore, pathological sampling and diagnosis are essential for determining the appropriate treatment. For this purpose, EUS-FNA is a safe, convenient, and minimally invasive procedure with high diagnostic value.

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Related Tumor Markers and Clinical Outcomes with Erlotinib in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: An Analysis of Patients from German Centers in the TRUST Study

Relationships between clinical outcomes and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-related tumor markers were investigated in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Patients with stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer (0-2 prior regimens) received erlotinib (150 mg PO per day). Response and survival were evaluated, and tumor samples were assessed by immunohistochemistry (EGFR, phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase, and phosphorylated AKT protein expression), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH; EGFR gene copy number), and DNA sequencing (EGFR, KRAS gene mutations). Among 311 patients, 8% had a complete/partial response; the disease control rate was 66%. Median Overall survival (OS) was 6.1 months; 1-year survival rate was 27.2%. Two of 4 patients with EGFR mutations had tumor responses, versus 2/68 with wild-type EGFR (p = 0.014). Progression-free survival (PFS) (HR = 0.31) and OS (HR = 0.33) were significantly prolonged in patients with EGFR mutations. Response rate was significantly higher in patients with EGFR FISH-positive (17%) than FISH-negative tumors (6%), and both PFS (HR = 0.58) and OS (HR = 0.63) significantly favored patients with EGFR FISH-positive tumors; median OS was 8.6 months in the EGFR FISH-positive group. None of 17 patients with a KRAS mutation had a tumor response, but the impact of KRAS mutation status on survival outcomes was of borderline statistical significance. Neither phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase nor phosphorylated AKT immunohistochemistry status had a significant effect on PFS and OS with erlotinib. The presence of EGFR mutations and EGFR FISH-positive tumors may predispose patients to achieving better outcomes on erlotinib, but may have a beneficial impact on prognosis (irrespective of treatment). Prospective, placebo-controlled studies are needed to determine the predictive value of the putative biomarkers.