title: Type III collagen metabolism in soft tissue sarcomas.
abstract: Sera of 85 patients with benign soft tissue lesions or sarcomas of soft tissues were investigated for a collagen metabolite, the aminoterminal propeptide of type III procollagen (PIIINP). Patients were divided into three groups: benign soft tissue lesions (n = 39), localised (n = 29) and metastatic (n = 18) soft tissue sarcomas (STS). Values of PIIINP above the reference range were found in 15%, 28% and 50% of the respective groups. The difference in the concentration of PIIINP was statistically significant between the benign lesions and the localised sarcomas; P = 0.05, and between the benign lesions and the metastatic sarcomas; P less than 0.001. In localised sarcomas there was a correlation between PIIINP and bone-involvement (r = 0.61, P = 0.002) and in metastatic disease between PIIINP and liver metastases (r = 0.77, P less than 0.001). In localised sarcomas the overall survival for patients with a value of PIIINP above the reference range was significantly poorer (P = 0.03) than for patients with values within the reference range, even after stratification for the histological malignancy grade of the tumours (P = 0.04).
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Wiklund
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Elomaa
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Blomqvist
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Risteli
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Risteli
mesh_terms: D003094:Collagen / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen