Serum level of endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 and prognosis of colorectal cancer

Abstract

ABSTRACT. We evaluated the clinical significance and explored the prognostic value of serum endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (ESM-1) expression in colorectal cancer (CRC) in a Chinese population. Serum samples were obtained from 89 CRC patients undergoing surgical treatment and 90 healthy volunteers (control group). ESM-1 levels in serum samples from CRC patients and controls were measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Overall survival was analyzed by the log-rank test, and survival curves were plotted according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate Cox regression was performed on each clinical covariate to examine its influence on patient survival. Final multivariate models were based on step-wise addition. Serum ESM-1 expression levels were significantly higher in patients with CRC (66.81 ± 22.97 pg/mL) than in healthy volunteers (31.50 ± 16.81 pg/mL, P = 0.012). Expression levels of ESM-1 in CRC patients were significantly correlated with histological differentiation (P = 0.004), TNM stage (P = 0.007), depth of tumor invasion (P = 0.02), and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that the overall survival was significantly lower in patients with high ESM-1 levels than in those with low levels (29.43 vs 61.20%, P = 0.0166). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the hazard risk of 5520 H. Jiang et al. ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 14 (2): 5519-5526 (2015) death was significantly higher in patients with high serum ESM-1 expression compared with low expression (hazard risk = 4.09, 95% confidence interval: 2.27-10.88, P < 0.001). Detection of ESM-1 levels in the serum may serve as a tumor biomarker for assessing prognosis in CRC.

Endocan as a prognostic biomarker of triple-negative breast cancer

“…These observations may indicate that overexpression of human ESM1 leads to rapid proliferation and might result in distant metastases for human TNBC cells, but also imply that metastatic human TNBC cells might not necessarily overexpress human ESM1 . Based on our results and earlier reports on human ESM1 /endocan [29–31], the overexpression of human ESM1 could be part of the reason why MDA-MB-231BR was more malignant than MDA-MB-231.…”

Tumor-suppressive role of Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF-4) in colorectal cancer

“…Multiple oncogenic markers have been identified in CRCs, namely, endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (Jiang et al, 2015), transcription termination factor 1 (Ueda et al, 2015), spindle assembly abnormal protein 6 homolog (Shinmura et al, 2015), and baculoviral IAP repeat containing 6, which have been associated with poor prognosis in CRC patients. Increased levels of preoperative chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL-2) (Szczepanik et al, 2015), serpin peptidase inhibitor clade A member (Kwon et al, 2015), chemokine receptor 4 (Li et al, 2015a), or high mobility group box 1 (Zhang et al, 2015) in CRC patients have also been demonstrated to stimulate the proliferation of tumor cells and are correlated with the poor prognosis in CRC patients.…”

Serum endocan levels before and after surgery on low-grade gliomas

“…The rapidly expanding data related to endocan, previously known as endothelial cell-specific molecule-1 (ESM-1), has demonstrated that this soluble, freely circulating molecule in the blood could be used as a marker or could be a target not only in several tumors[410] but also in sepsis. [15] Endocan is a soluble dermatan sulfate proteoglycan (PG) and is present primarily on the cell surface, in the extracellular matrix, and body fluids.…”

“…[7] Endocan is produced by endothelial cells and includes a protein core, dermatan sulfate. [17] Its overexpression in serum of patients with several cancers, including hepatocellular,[14] bladder,[6] colorectal,[4] and lung carcinomas,[7] has been demonstrated. Because this molecule is associated with neoangiogenesis, which is the sine qua non for tumor growth and progression, studies suggest that serum levels can be used as a marker that can alert clinicians about tumor progression More importantly, some studies have demonstrated that serum endocan levels can show malignancy; higher the grade of tumor, higher the serum levels of endocan.…”

“…Because this molecule is associated with neoangiogenesis, which is the sine qua non for tumor growth and progression, studies suggest that serum levels can be used as a marker that can alert clinicians about tumor progression More importantly, some studies have demonstrated that serum endocan levels can show malignancy; higher the grade of tumor, higher the serum levels of endocan. [41214]…”