Relationship between pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A and lung cancer.
BACKGROUND
: Pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) has insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-dependent IGFBP-4 protease activity and plays an important role in amplifying local IGF-1 activity in wound healing, vascular repair, and bone remodeling. We postulated that PAPP-A may contribute to the availability and activity of IGFs, which affect lung cancer. Therefore, we determined the levels of PAPP-A in patients with lung cancer and their possible clinical significance.


METHODS
: The study population consisted of 83 patients with lung cancer and 33 healthy subjects as a control group. Serum PAPP-A levels were determined using an ultrasensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.


RESULTS
: The serum PAPP-A levels were higher in patients with lung cancer [median (interquartile range) 10.7 (7.6-14.2) ng/mL] than in the control group [6.2 (5.2-9.8) ng/mL, P < 0.001]. There was a significant negative correlation between the serum PAPP-A levels and Karnofsky performance status (r = -0.330; P < 0.001) and a positive correlation with patient age (r = 0.358; P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
: PAPP-A is a proatherosclerotic metalloproteinase that is also thought to be an inflammatory marker. We found that the serum PAPP-A levels increased in patients with lung cancer and postulated that PAPP-A levels may be a prognostic factor in such cases.
Department of Chest Disease and Tuberculosis and Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Dumlupinar University, Kutahya, Turkey. ismetbulut@yahoo.com
Ismet
I
Bulut
Abdurrahman
A
Coskun
Abdullah
A
Ciftci
Erdogan
E
Cetinkaya
Gundeniz
G
Altiay
Tuncay
T
Caglar
Erim
E
Gulcan
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A / Q000378:metabolism*; D013223:Statistics as Topic
D011266:Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A