The significance of serum transforming growth factor beta 1 in detecting of gastric and colon cancers.
OBJECTIVE
TGF-beta1 is a growth factor with wide ranging effects on proliferation, differentiation, immune suppression, apoptosis and matrix remodeling. We aimed to clarify the clinical significance of circulating levels of TGF-beta1 as a tumor marker in gastrointestinal tract cancers by comparing it to CEA across a range of parameters such as cancer type and severity.


METHODS
Sera collected from patients with gastrointestinal tract cancers (32 gastric, 36 colon) and from 25 healthy volunteers were analyzed for TGF-beta1 and CEA. Relations between serum TGF-beta1 levels and tumor stage and tumor grade were also evaluated.


RESULTS
Mean serum TGF-beta1 levels were higher in patients with gastric or colon cancer compared to the control group (p = 0.001). In both types of cancer there were no differences in TGF-beta1 levels associated with serosal involvement, lymph node involvement, vascular invasion, distant metastasis or tumor size. Mean serum TGF-beta1 levels were also not statistically different across histopathological tumor grades in either type of cancer. The sensitivity of TGF-beta1 was higher in patients with gastric cancer than in patients with colon cancer. TGF-beta1 had greater sensitivity than CEA in gastric cancer patients.


CONCLUSIONS
TGF-beta1 has higher sensitivity in gastric and colon cancers. Since it may be increased even in cancer without closed and distant metastasis, TGF-beta1 may be used as a tumor marker and combined with CEA particularly in gastric cancers.
Coban
Sahin
S
Department of Gastroenterology, Ankara University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey. scoban72@yahoo.com
Yüksel
Osman
O
Koçkar
Muhammed Cem
MC
Köklü
Seyfettin
S
Basar
Omer
O
Tutkak
Hüseyin
H
Ormeci
Necati
N
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000097:blood*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1