Diagnostic impact of high serum midkine level in patients with gastric cancer

Abstract

Aim We evaluated the diagnostic impact of serum midkine (s‐MK) levels in patients with gastric cancer using a monoclonal antibody enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay system (ELISA) to detect s‐MK levels. Methods Serum samples were obtained from 131 patients with gastric cancer including stage I (n = 71), stage II (n = 28), stage III (n = 16), and stage IV (n = 16) before surgery. Serum samples were analyzed using ELISA to detect soluble midkine. A cut‐off value was fixed at 421 pg/mL, and the sample divided into two groups: a high s‐MK group and a low s‐MK group. Clinicopathological factors and prognosis were compared between these two groups using univariate and multivariate analyses. Comparison of two groups was analyzed by Fisher's exact probability test. Statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05. Results High s‐MK was significantly associated with high carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) (P < 0.01). Positive rate of s‐MK was higher than the positive rates of CEA in patients with stage I/II gastric cancer. Combination with CEA + CA19‐9 + s‐MK increased the positive rates of patients with stage I/II gastric cancer. No other clinicopathological factors were associated with s‐MK. Although the high s‐MK group showed worse overall survival than the low s‐MK group, the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion s‐MK level is increased even during early‐stage gastric cancer. Combined with s‐MK, the positive rate of CEA + CA19‐9 was increased in patients with stage I/II gastric cancer.

Serum Midkine is a clinical significant biomarker for colorectal cancer and associated with poor survival

“…Briefly, patients with low S‐MK levels tended to have a favorable prognosis. The difference was not significant due to the low number of included patients …”

“…The difference was not significant due to the low number of included patients. 18 Since midkine can also be increased in the case of other tumor entities, the use of midkine would be most meaningful as part of a multimarker panel 9,33,34 for CRC screening and surveillance. A reliable multimarker panel can in future be an attractive alternative to the unpopular coloscopy.…”

“…Regional divergence for S‐MK is also suspected . High expression of MK is known for numerous tumors, such as gastric cancer, esophagus squamous cell cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal carcinoma …”

“…12 High expression of MK is known for numerous tumors, such as gastric cancer, esophagus squamous cell cancer, pancreatic cancer, and colorectal carcinoma. [13][14][15][16][17][18] In terms of midkine's function in tumor progression, it is known that MK contributes to neoangiogenesis and tumor cell proliferation while inhibiting apoptosis. 16,19,20 In addition, MK inhibits the interaction with T cells and contributes to the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-8 and TGF-beta.…”

Identification of serum anti‑striatin 4 antibodies as a common marker for esophageal cancer and other solid cancers

“…The serum anti-p53 antibody test has recently been developed and has been employed worldwide to detect superficial esophageal SCC (4,5). The positive rate of serum anti-p53 was 30% (6); however, there are few biomarkers that have shown such high sensitivity and specificity (7)(8)(9)(10). New biomarkers that can estimate the short-term postoperative prognosis are effective because they can help physicians select the appropriate postoperative adjuvant therapy during the early postoperative period.…”