title: Serum and tissue level of YKL-40 in endometrial cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Serum YKL-40 level is elevated in patients with several malignancies. This study was designed to assess the correlation between serum YKL-40 and the corresponding tissue expression in endometrial cancer (EC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Preoperative serum levels of YKL-40 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from 41 patients with EC, 27 patients with uterine myoma, and 30 healthy women. YKL-40 protein expression in tissue was determined by immunohistochemistry for patients with EC and patients with uterine myoma.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median preoperative serum YKL-40 level was 157.2 microg/l (range 76.0 - 301.2) in EC compared with 86.6 microg/l (range 69.3 - 191.1) in uterine myoma, and 86.2 microg/l (range 52.1 - 201.1) in healthy women (p < 0.05). Of 41 patients with EC, 26 patients with elevated serum YKL-40 level statistically differed from the remaining 15 patients with normal serum YKL-40 level with respect to FIGO Stage, tumor grade, washing cytology, and serum CA125 (p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, elevated serum YKL-40 significantly correlated with FIGO stage (p < 0.05) and tumor grade (p < 0.01). The percentage of positive YKL-40 tissue staining was higher in EC patients (34.1%, 14/41) than in uterine myoma patients (11.1%, 3/27) (p < 0.05) and was lower than that of elevated serum levels in EC (26/41, 63.4%) (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The elevated preoperative serum YKL-40 is related to stage and histologic grade of EC. The discordance between serum and tissue level of YKL-40 in EC indicates intrauterine tumor may not be the only source of serum YKL-40.
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: H Q
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D054392:Adipokines / Q000032:analysis*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018394:CA-125 Antigen / Q000097:blood; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D037102:Lectins / Q000032:analysis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging
chemical_list: D054392:Adipokines; D018394:CA-125 Antigen; C084533:CHI3L1 protein, human; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D037102:Lectins