Soluble E-cadherin is an independent pretherapeutic factor for long-term survival in gastric cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether pretherapeutic serum soluble E-cadherin is an independent factor predicting long-term survival in gastric cancer. Gastric cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, but a satisfactory tumor marker is currently unavailable for gastric cancer. Soluble E-cadherin has recently been found to have prognostic value in gastric cancer.


METHODS
One hundred sixteen patients with histologically proven gastric adenocarcinoma were included in the trial. Pretherapeutic serum was collected, and soluble E-cadherin was assayed using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. The patients were followed up prospectively at the outpatient clinic.


RESULTS
There were 75 men and 41 women, with a mean (+/- SD) age of 66 +/- 14 years. Forty-eight percent of tumors were located in the gastric antrum. The median survival time was 11 months. The mean pretherapeutic value of soluble E-cadherin was 9,159 ng/mL (range, 6,002 to 10,025 ng/mL), and the mean pretherapeutic level of carcinoembryonic antigen was 11 ng/mL (range, 0.3 to 4,895 ng/mL). On multivariate analysis, soluble E-cadherin is an independent factor predicting long-term survival. Ninety percent of patients with a serum level of E-cadherin greater than 10,000 ng/mL had a survival time of less than 3 years (P =.009).


CONCLUSIONS
Soluble E-cadherin is a potentially valuable pretherapeutic prognostic factor in patients with gastric cancer.
Chan
Annie On-On
AO
Department of Medicine, University of Hong Kong Medical Center, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.
Chu
Kent-Man
KM
Lam
Shiu-Kum
SK
Wong
Benjamin Chun-Yu
BC
Kwok
Ka-Fai
KF
Law
Simon
S
Ko
Samuel
S
Hui
Wai-Mo
WM
Yueng
Yui-Hung
YH
Wong
John
J
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D015996:Survival Rate
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D015820:Cadherins