title: Prognostic value of the pretreatment serum level of cytokeratin fraction 21-1 in undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a study of 332 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prognostic value of serum cytokeratin fraction 21-1 (CYFRA 21-1) has not been fully validated for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum CYFRA 21-1 levels of 332 patients with NPC were measured before treatment, and their association with overall survival (OS), tumor-free survival (TFS), time to local recurrence (TLR), and time to distant recurrence (TDR) was studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pretreatment serum CYFRA 21-1 level of patients with classification of T1+2 , N0 , stage I+II was significantly lower than that of those with T3+4 , N1+2+3 and III+IV, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that a high pretreatment serum level of CYFRA 21-1 and T classification were independent predictors of poor OS and TDR. A high pretreatment level of CYFRA 21-1 was an independent predictor of shorter TFS and TLR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The pretreatment serum level of CYFRA 21-1 would be a reliable biomarker to evaluate the long-term prognosis of patients with undifferentiated NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Tumor Surgery, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhengbo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Xianjie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xuwei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Jianbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053539:Keratin-19 / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D053539:Keratin-19; C102012:antigen CYFRA21.1
keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma; pretreatment; prognosis; serum cytokeratin fraction 21-1; undifferentiated