The diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic role of serum epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) levels in breast cancer.

The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical significance of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) in breast cancer (BC) patients. Ninety-six BC patients and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Pretreatment serum markers were determined by the solid-phase sandwich (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)). The median age at diagnosis was 48 years (range 29-80 years). Majority of the patients (71 %) had luminal subtype, and 38.5 % had metastatic disease. Twenty-nine (30 %) patients showed tumor progression, and 20 (21 %) patients died during follow-up. Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 8.6 ± 1.7 and 35.5 ± 1.5 months, respectively. The baseline serum EpCAM levels of the patients were significantly higher than those of the controls (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum levels of VCAM-1 between the patients and controls (p = 0.47). No significant correlation was detected between the levels of the serum markers and other clinical parameters (p > 0.05). Patients with HER-2-positive and triple-negative tumors had significantly poorer PFS (p = 0.04 and p = 0.001, respectively), while metastatic disease and chemotherapy unresponsiveness had significantly adverse effect on OS analysis (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Neither serum VCAM-1 levels nor serum EpCAM levels were identified to have a prognostic role on either PFS or OS (VCAM-1 p = 0.76 and p = 0.32; EpCAM p = 0.16 and p = 0.69, respectively). Even though any predictive or prognostic role could not be determined for both markers, serum levels of EpCAM were found to have diagnostic value in BC patients.

Is there any diagnostic value of serum protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) levels on determination of epithelial ovarian carcinoma?

The role of molecular markers in ovarian cancer is still a matter of debate. Protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR1) might be a good marker in some types of malignant tumors and might provide useful information in diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of PAR1 in regard to diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic value in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients. Forty-four EOC patients were enrolled in this study. Serum PAR1 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Twenty-five age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included in the analysis. The median age of patients was 58 years old, ranging from 22 to 83 years, where most of them had advanced disease (stage III-IV) (n = 40, 91%). The median serum PAR1 values were significantly elevated in patients compared to healthy controls (1.52 ng/ml vs. 1.13 ng/ml) (p = 0.03), whereas any clinical variables including response to chemotherapy did not associate with serum assay (p > 0.05). Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of patients who did not respond to chemotherapy nor had platinum resistance in relapsed disease were poorer in the analyses. On the other hand, serum PAR1 levels showed no significant adverse effect on either PFS or OS (p = 0.43 and p = 0.49, respectively). These results proved that baseline serum PAR1 levels of patients with EOC were significantly higher than those of healthy people. However, these assays suggested no predictive or prognostic value in this group of patients.

Clinical significance of serum circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The principal aim of our study was to investigate the usefulness of serum protein and circulating mRNA of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Fifty-four HCC patients and age- and sex-matched 20 healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Pretreatment serum IGF-1 and IGF-1 mRNA were determined by the solid-phase sandwich ELISA and quantitative RT-PCR method, respectively. The median age at diagnosis was 60 years, range 36-77 years; where majority of group were male (n = 48, 88.8%). All patients had cirrhotic history. Forty-six percent (n = 25) of patients had Child-Pugh score A, 30% (n = 16) had score B or C. All of the patients were treated with local therapies and none of them received sorafenib. The baseline serum IGF-1 mRNA levels were significantly higher in HCC patients than in the control group (p = 0.04), whereas no significant difference was observed for IGF-1 protein levels between the two group (p = 0.18). Patients with history of HBV infection, who were not treated, and who received multiple palliative treatment for HCC had higher serum IGF-1 mRNA levels (p = 0.03, 0.03, and 0.05, respectively). Poor performance status (p < 0.001), viral etiology of cirrhosis (p = 0.03), larger tumor size (p = 0.01), lower serum hemoglobin levels (p = 0.03), and not be treated for HCC (p = 0.001) related to worse survival. However, neither serum IGF-1 nor serum IGF-1 mRNA had significantly adverse effect on survival (p = 0.53 and 0.42, respectively).