Serum levels of retinol-binding protein 4 and the risk of non-small cell lung cancer: A case-control study.

ABSTRACT

Retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), as an adipokine, has been identified to be associated with several types of cancer. However, no studies have assessed its effect on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) risk. The objective of this study was to assess the association between serum RBP4 levels and the risk of NSCLC.A case-control study design was used to recruit 256 confirmed NSCLC cases and 256 age- and gender-matched healthy controls by frequency between August 2017 and January 2019. Serum RBP4 was measured using enzyme-linked immune absorbent assay before treatment. Unconditional logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI).Serum RBP4 level was significantly higher in NSCLC patients than those in the healthy control group (36.05 ±â€Š8.28 vs 29.54 ±â€Š7.71 µg/mL, P < .05). Higher serum RBP4 level was associated with increased risk of NSCLC (P trend = .001). Compare with those in the lowest tertile, the adjusted odds ratios were 1.85 (95% CIs 1.07-3.2) (P = .029) for the second tertile and 2.18 (95% CIs 1.37-3.45) (P = .001) for the highest tertile after adjusting for confounding variables. No interactions were observed after stratified analyses by body mass index and smoking status (P for interaction .584 and .357).Our study indicated that serum RBP4 level was positively related to the risk of NSCLC. Additional studies with prospective design are required to confirm this finding.