Increased Progastrin-Releasing Peptide Expression is Associated with Progression in Gastric Cancer Patients

Application of magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging combined with serum tumor markers in brain metastases of small cell lung cancer / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To investigate the value of magnetic resonance diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in combination with peripheral serum tumor markers in the diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) brain metastases.Methods Retrospective analysis of 368 SCLC cases diagnosed by histopathology or cytology from February 2009 to February 2012 in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital was made.All patients underwent pathological examination of progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP),neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and brain DWI,and measured the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of DWI sequences of brain metastases.The difference between the positive rates of ProGRP and NSE in patients with or without brain metastases was compared by the X2 test,and the diagnostic efficiency of ProGRP,NSE,DWI and combined detection for brain metastases were analyzed.The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the changes of ADC value,ProGRP and NSE before and after brain irradiation therapy in brain metastases of SCLC.Pearson correlation analysis was made to evaluate the correlation between the changes of ADC value and the levels of ProGRP and NSE in SCLC patients with brain metastases before and after treatment.Results The median expression of serum ProGRP in 169 SCLC patients was 2 664.7 pg/ml (98.4-4 876.8 pg/ml),with a positive rate of 98.2 ％ (166/169).The median expression of NSE was 41.9 μg/L (9.4-264.3 μg/L),with a positive rate of 70.4 ％ (119/169).The median expression of serum ProGRP level was 514.3 pg/ml (3.9-2 899.3 pg/ml) in 199 SCLC patients without brain metastasis,the positive rate was 89.4 ％ (178/199).The median expression of NSE was 40.4 μg/L (0.3-176.1 μ,g/L),with a positive rate of 64.8 ％ (129/199).The difference of ProGRP level between the two groups was statistically significant (u =121.47,P ＜ 0.001),but there was no significant difference in NSE level (u =1.35,P =0.12).The sensitivities of ProGRP,NSE,DWI,ProGRP+DWI and NSE+DWI were 68.4 ％,41.2 ％,66.7 ％,92.2 ％,and 82.4 ％,and the specificities were 52.9 ％,35.3 ％,76.5 ％,94.1％,and 88.2 ％.The sensitivity and specificity of ProGRP+DWI and NSE+DWI were higher than those of single test,and the differences were statistically significant (all P ＜ 0.001).One hundred and fifty-six SCLC patients with brain metastases were treated with whole brain radiotherapy.Pearson correlation analysis showed that ADC values were negatively correlated with ProGRP and NSE levels (r =-0.945,P ＜ 0.001;r =-0.995,P ＜ 0.001).Conclusion DWI combined with ProGRP and NSE can provide objective evidence and clinical guidance for the diagnosis of SCLC brain metastases and the evaluation of whole brain radiotherapy.

Correlation of serum neuron-specific enolase and progastrin-releasing peptide with initial chemotherapeutic effect and survival of patients with small cell lung cancer / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective To investigate the relationships of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) with the initial chemotherapeutic effect and survival of patients with small-cell lung cancer (SCLC).Methods A total of 197 patients with SCLC diagnosed pathologically from January 2011 to September 2013 in Shanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital were selected.x 2 test and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the factors affecting the initial chemotherapeutic response;KaplanMeier method,log-rank test and Cox regression analysis were used to analyze the factors affecting survival of patients.Results Among the 197 patients,NSE was negative in 64 cases and positive in 133 cases;ProGRP was negative in 51 cases and positive in 146 cases;41 cases with hyponatremia and 156 cases without hyponatremia.152 cases (77.2 ％) had well response to initial treatment and 45 cases (22.8 ％) had no reaction.Univariate analysis showed that stage of disease (x2 =4.456,P =0.033) and ProGRP (x2 =13.424,P ＜ 0.001) were associated with initial therapeutic response.Logistic regression analysis showed that stage of disease (OR =0.404,95 ％ CI 0.197-0.828％,P =0.013) and ProGRP (OR =4.058,95 ％ CI 1.939-8.491,P =0.000) were the independent predictors of initial therapeutic response.Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that sex,age,smoking,with or without hyponatremia,stage of disease,NSE,ProGRP and number of chemotherapy cycles were all associated with 2-year survival rate (x2 values were 4.319,6.811,4.264,4.687,32.631,41.045,11.379,33.466,respectively,all P ＜ 0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that stage of disease (RR =2.110,95 ％ CI 1.491-2.985,P ＜ 0.001),number of chemotherapy cycles (RR =0.398,95 ％ CI 0.283-0.588,P ＜ 0.001) and NSE (RR =1.422,95 ％ CI 1.113-1.784,P =0.002) were independent predictors of survival.However,ProGRP was not associated with survival of patients (RR =1.065,95 ％ CI 0.854-1.328,P =0.587).Conclusions ProGRP is associated with the initial chemotherapeutic response in patients with SCLC,and it has certain clinical significance in predicting the initial chemotherapeutic effect.NSE is associated with the survival prognosis of SCLC,and it is a prognostic factor of poor survival.