title: Predictive value of preoperative serum CCL2, CCL18, and VEGF for the patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate the expression of chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2), chemokine ligand 18 (CCL18), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in peripheral blood of patients with gastric cancer and their correlation with presence of malignancy and disease progression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty patients with pathological proved gastric cancer were prospectively included into study. The levels of CCL2, CCL18, and VEGF in peripheral blood were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA). Peripheral blood from 20 healthy people was examined as control.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The preoperative serum levels of CCL2, CCL18 and VEGF in gastric cancer patients were significantly higher than that of controls (P <0.001, P <0.001, and P <0.001, respectively). ROC curve analysis showed that with a cut-off value of ≥1272.8, the VEGF*CCL2 predicted the presence of gastric cancer with 83% sensitivity and 80% specificity. Preoperative serum CCL2 was significantly correlated to N stage (P =0.040); CCL18 associated with N stage (P =0.002), and TNM stage (P =0.002); VEGF correlated to T stage (P =0.000), N stage (P =0.015), and TNM stage (P =0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative serum levels of CCL2 and VEGF could play a crucial role in predicting the presence and progression of gastric cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jianghong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Xiaowen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastric Cancer and Soft Tissue Sarcoma, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, 270 Dong An Road, Shanghai 200032, People's Republic of China.|Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Yanong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang