Serum IGFBP-1 as a promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer.

Our previous study showed that levels of circulating insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) has potential diagnostic value for early-stage upper gastrointestinal cancers. This study aimed to assess whether serum IGFBP-1 is a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for CRC patients. IGFBP-1 mRNA expression profile data of peripheral blood in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients were downloaded and analyzed from Gene Expression Omnibus database. We detected serum IGFBP-1 in 138 CRC patients and 190 normal controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Blood IGFBP-1 mRNA levels were higher in CRC patients than those in normal controls (P = 0.027). In addition, serum IGFBP-1 protein levels in the CRC group were significantly higher than those in normal control group (P < 0.0001). Serum IGFBP-1 demonstrated better diagnostic accuracy for all CRC and early-stage CRC, respectively, when compared with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen19-9 (CA 19-9) or the combination of CEA and CA19-9. Furthermore, Cox multivariate analysis revealed that serum IGFBP-1 was an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR = 2.043, P = 0.045). Our study demonstrated that serum IGFBP-1 might be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of CRC. In addition, the nomogram might be helpful to predict the prognosis of CRC.

Combined detection of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 as diagnostic biomarker for gastric cancer.

We previously identified that serum EFNA1 and MMP13 were potential biomarker for early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. In this study, our aim is to explore the diagnostic value of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 for gastric cancer. We used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect the expression levels of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 in 210 GCs and 223 normal controls. The diagnostic value of EFNA1 and MMP13 was evaluated in an independent cohorts of GC patients and normal controls (n = 238 and 195, respectively). Receiver operating characteristics were used to calculate diagnostic accuracy. In training and validation cohorts, serum EFNA1 and MMP13 levels in the GC groups were significantly higher than those in the normal controls (P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) of the combined detection of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 for GC was improved (0.794), compared with single biomarker used. Similar results were observed in the validation cohort. Importantly, the combined measurement of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 to detect early-stage GC also had acceptable diagnostic accuracy in training and validation cohort. Combined detection of serum EFNA1 and MMP13 could help identify early-stage GC, suggesting that it may be a promising tool for the early detection of GC.