The presence of anti-p53 antibodies in sera prior to thoracic surgery in non small cell lung cancer patients: its implications on tumor volume, nodal involvement, and survival.

BACKGROUND: During recent years, a correlation between the presence of antibodies in sera against p53 and survival has been reported. The aim of the present study was to analyze anti-p53 antibodies in sera from patients with non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to thoracic surgery and their correlation to survival, nodal involvement, and tumor volume. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Serum samples from 58 patients with NSCLC admitted to the Department of Pulmonary Medicine in Uppsala were collected between 1993 and 1995 and analyzed for the expression of anti-p53 antibodies. RESULTS: Antibodies against p53 were detected in 12 patients (21%). No association was found between increased levels of anti-p53 antibodies and tumor volume (P =.84). There was a numerical trend towards higher levels of anti-p53 antibodies in patients without nodal disease, when compared with patients with nodal involvement, although not statistically significant (P =.136). However, when patients with metastatic disease were included, statistically significantly lower levels of anti-p53 antibodies were demonstrated, in comparison to patients without any sign of nodal engagement or metastatic disease (P =.038). Anti-p53 antibodies and survival showed no correlation between increasing index levels of anti-p53 antibodies and survival (P =.18). Neither was a correlation found between using the cutoff (>1.1) described by the manufacturer and survival. CONCLUSION: The presence of anti-p53 antibodies was correlated neither to survival nor to tumor volume in the present study. However, patients with either nodal or metastatic disease had lower levels of anti-p53 antibodies in comparison to patients without signs of either nodal or metastatic disease. These issues are discussed.

Tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA), hyaluronan and CA 125 as serum markers in malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a rare disease with poor prognosis. Monitoring the effect of treatment is a problem and a serum marker might be of use for this purpose. We have studied three serum markers TPA, Hyaluronan and CA 125 in a limited material (11 patients) with the purpose of finding out if they might reflect treatment effect and/or indicate prognosis. The results in our material show that correspondence between initial TPA levels and survival seems to be better than corresponding data regarding Hyaluronan and CAI 25. Five patients show increasing serum levels of all three serum markers from first to last sample as the mesothelioma progressed according to consecutive CT scans. In three of these patients stable disease was followed by a decrease in the serum marker levels. Our results indicate that these three serum markers and mainly TPA might be useful as markers of disease progression and TPA for prediction of survival.