title: Importance of serum levels of angiopoietin-2 and survivin biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Angiogenesis is an essential process in cancer growth maintenance, and metastasis. Angiopoietin-2 promotes tumor angiogenesis by priming the vasculature and potentiating the effects of cytokines at the front of active neovascularization. Enhanced expression of angiopoietin-2 has been reported in lung cancer tissue. Survivin is one of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein that has been shown to play a key role in cancer progression, and in tumor angiogenesis. Also plays a key role in tumor cell resistance to anticancer agents and ionizing radiation.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To measure the serum levels of angiopoietin-2 and survivin as possible angiogenic factors in lung cancer patients with the assessment of their interrelationships and clinical significance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with lung cancer as NSCLC (n=70) and healthy volunteers (n=10) were enrolled. Serum angiopoietin-2 and survivin concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median serum angiopoietin-2 levels with lung cancer (2730pg/mL) ranged from 1171 to 6541pg/mL was higher than the median of the control group (1795pg/mL) ranged from 1076 to 2730/mL, p<0.001. Median serum survivin levels were also higher in patients with lung cancer (53.0pg/mL) ranged from 39.3 to 96.3pg/mL than the median of the control group (48.8pg/mL) ranged from 38.0 to 74.6pg/mL, but did not reach statistical significance p=0.206. In all patients with lung cancer, serum angiopoietin-2 was not significantly correlated with survivin (r=0.073, p=0.657). Neither serum angiopoietin-2 nor survivin showed significant relation with the serum angiopoietin-2 or survivin levels depending on the cell types, stage progression, and metastasis among the patients with NSCLC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that serum angiopoietin-2 is a useful marker for the diagnosis of NSCLC by ELIZA technique.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pathology Department, NCI, Cairo University, Egypt. amalfawzy69@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Amal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fawzy
authors.forename: Rabab
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gaafar
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kasem
authors.forename: Shawkey S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Elshafei
authors.forename: Mahmoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eldeib
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D042702:Angiopoietin-2 / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000502:physiology; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D000077022:Survivin
chemical_list: D042702:Angiopoietin-2; C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D000077022:Survivin