title: Serum granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor: a tumor marker in colorectal carcinoma?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is a hematopoietic growth factor, 23 kDA molecular weight with a glycoprotein nature, which is also an immune modulator. The levels of GM-CSF and its role in the pathophysiology of several cancers such as ovarian, breast have been investigated. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of GM-CSF and carcinoembryogenic antigen levels in predicting survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Plasma levels of GM-CSF were measured in 51 patients with previously untreated colorectal cancer patients and 21 healthy adults as normal controls. The clinicopathological features of colorectal carcinoma were determined at the time of blood collection. Patient staging was done according to tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) by American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma concentrations of GM-CSF in colorectal cancer patients (42.0 pg/ml) were statistically significant higher than normal controls (23.2 pg/ml) (p= 0.001). Statistically significant correlation was not determined between pretreatment GM-CSF levels and overall survival. On the other hand, stage of disease, carcinoembryogenic antigen and peripheral leukocyte counts were not correlated with GM-CSF levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first report in which serum levels of GM-CSF, carcinoembriyogenic and peripheral leukocyte counts have been simultaneously evaluated in colorectal cancer patients. We found significantly elevated GM-CSF but the results suggested that serum GM-CSF may not be useful for clinical information in prognosis as a tumor marker in colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Umut
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Demirci
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Coskun
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sancak
authors.forename: Banu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ozturk
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bahar
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benekli
authors.forename: Suleyman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buyukberber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor