title: Serum levels of Midkine in children and adolescents without malignant disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Midkine (MK), a heparin-binding growth factor, is a secreted protein and can be detected in a patient's sera.
  
  
  METHODS
  MK was studied in the sera of 215 children and adolescents without malignant disease using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in order to determine the distribution of concentrations in a control population for pediatric oncology patients. Tested subjects either underwent surgical procedures or suffered from endocrinological diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elevated MK levels were found in patients with short stature, diabetes mellitus, obesity, and cleft lip and palate. These patients were subsequently excluded from the "non-cancer" group. MK serum levels did neither correlate with sex, age, weight or height nor showed a normal distribution (n= 152, range: 0.0-5.58 ng/ml, median: 0.0 ng/ml, mean: 0.26 ng/ml, SD: +/-0.61).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MK serum values in children and adolescents are widely spread and not normally distributed. The present results indicate that the MK expression is influenced by many factors apart from cancer, which have not yet been identified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lucas
authors.forename: Günter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Henze
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schnabel
authors.forename: Winfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Barthlen
authors.forename: Sadatoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakuma
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurtz
authors.forename: Pablo Hernáiz
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Driever
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D000078792:Midkine; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood; D012016:Reference Values
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D000078792:Midkine