Pro-gastrin-releasing peptide(31-98) as a tumour marker of small-cell lung cancer: comparative evaluation with neuron-specific enolase

Abstract

Summary We attempted to clarify whether serum levels of a carboxy-terminal fragment of ProGRP, , could serve as a more accurate tumour marker in patients with SCLC than neuron-specific enolase (NSE). and NSE were measured retrospectively in 101 newly diagnosed untreated patients with SCLC, 111 with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and 114 patients with non-malignant lung diseases. ProGRP(31-98) and NSE levels were determined using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Sensitivity in SCLC patients was 72.3% for ProGRP(31-98) and 62.4% for NSE. Comparing the area under curve (AUC) of 'receiver operator characteristics' of ProGRP(31 -98) with that of NSE, ProGRP(31-98) was the more powerful marker in the diagnosis of SCLC (P=0.0001). Serum levels of were higher in the 40 patients with extensive disease than in the 61 patients with limited disease (P=0.0082). ProGRP(31-98) was significantly higher in patients with pure small-cell carcinoma than in patients with mixed small-cell/large-cell carcinoma (P=0.02). In serial measurement in 16 patients responding to treatment, a high degree of correlation was noted between the decrease in serum ProGRP(31-98) levels and clinical response during the second week after treatment (P=0.0045). These results indicate that the determination of serum ProGRP(31-98) levels plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of SCLC patients.

Identification of Five Candidate Lung Cancer Biomarkers by Proteomics Analysis of Conditioned Media of Four Lung Cancer Cell Lines

“…With regard to current biomarkers used in the clinic, this is the expected concentration range, giving us hope that new lung cancer markers should be detectable in serum. Through our method, we successfully identified proteins that are putative or currently used as biomarkers of lung cancer, including CEA (27,28), pro-GRP (29,31), SCC antigen (47,48), tumor M2-PK (49), NCAM (35)(36)(37), chromogranin A (29), and chromogranin B (30). In addition, we identified putative markers previously reported in lung-related proteomics studies such as member C1 of aldo-keto reductase family 1 identified by Huang et al (25) as dihydrodiol dehydrogenase and matrix metallopeptidase 1 found to be overexpressed in lung cancer patients and especially in late stage (18).…”

Automated Time-Resolved Immunofluorometric Assay for Progastrin-Releasing Peptide

“…Progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) is a promising tumor marker for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) (1)(2)(3).…”

Peripheral Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor of the Chest Wall of a 69-year-old Man

“…NSE and proGRP are believed to be diagnostic blood tumor markers for SCLC (13,14). However, NSE has frequently been expressed in pPNETs (2) and in some cases of pPNETs elevated levels of serum NSE have been reported (11,12).…”

“…Askin tumor rarely occurs in elderly persons and some cases of Askin tumor have been reported to have high levels of serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE) (11,12), which is believed to be a useful blood tumor marker for SCLC (13,14). We describe a case of pPNET of the chest wall in a 69-year-old man who had high levels of serum NSE and progastrin releasing peptide (proGRP); the diagnosis of pPNET was confirmed by MIC2 protein immunostaining, and RT-PCR and nucleotide sequence analysis for EWS/FLI-1 chimeric mRNA.…”