title: Significance of transforming growth factor beta1 as a new tumor marker for colorectal cancer.
abstract: Transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1) is thought to be involved in cancer growth and progression. TGF-beta1 changes to its active form after being secreted in its latent form. Our aim was to clarify the significance of plasma concentrations of active and total TGF-beta1 of patients with colorectal cancer. Plasma concentrations of active and total TGF-beta1 in 45 patients with colorectal cancer and 23 healthy volunteers were measured using ELISA and the activation rate (ratio of active to total TGF-beta1) was determined. Plasma concentrations of active TGF-beta1 (21.9 +/- 12.8 pg/ml) were significantly higher in patients with colorectal cancer than in healthy volunteers (9.9 +/- 5.9 pg/ml; p < 0.001, Welch's t-test). Concentration of total TGF-beta1 was also significantly higher for patients with colorectal cancer (18.0 +/- 13.0 ng/ml vs. 11.1 +/- 6.4 ng/ml; p < 0.01, Welch's t-test). However, there was no significant difference in the TGF-beta1 activation rate between the 2 groups. There was a correlation between Dukes' stage and plasma concentration of active or total TGF-beta1 (p < 0.01, Spearman's rank correlation test) and on day 7 the active TGF-beta1 levels for patients recovering from curative resection were similar to those of the control group of healthy volunteers. These results suggest that active TGF-beta1 might be used as a tumor marker for colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narai
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishibori
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Endo
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitajima
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000097:blood*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011498:Protein Precursors; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1