Serum Pleiotrophin Could Be an Early Indicator for Diagnosis and Prognosis of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Aims: Pleiotrophin (PTN), an angiogenic factor, is associated with various types of cancer, including lungcancer. Our aim was to investigate the possibility of using serum PTN as an early indicator regarding diseasediagnosis, classification and prognosis, for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: Significantdifferences among PTN levels in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC, n=40), NSCLC (n=136), and controlsubjects with benign pulmonary lesions (n=21), as well as patients with different pathological subtypes of NSCLCwere observed.
Results: A serum level of PTN of 300.1 ng/ml, was determined as the cutoff value differentiatinglung cancer patients and controls, with a sensitivity and specificity of 78.4% and 66.7%, respectively. Negativecorrelations between serum PTN level and pathological differentiation level, stage, and survival time wereobserved in our cohort of patients with NSCLC. In addition, specific elevation of PTN levels in pulmonary tissuein and around NSCLC lesions in comparison to normal pulmonary tissue obtained from the same subjects wasalso observed (n=2).
Conclusion: This study suggests that the serum PTN level of patients with NSCLC couldbe an early indicator for diagnosis and prognosis. This conclusion should be further assessed in randomizedclinical trials.