title: Serum clusterin as a tumor marker and prognostic factor for patients with esophageal cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent studies have revealed that clusterin is implicated in many physiological and pathological processes, including tumorigenesis. However, the relationship between serum clusterin expression and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is unclear.
  
  
  METHODS
  The serum clusterin concentrations of 87 ESCC patients and 136 healthy individuals were examined. An independent-samples Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare serum clusterin concentrations of ESCC patients to those of healthy controls. Univariate analysis was conducted using the log-rank test and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazards model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In healthy controls, the mean clusterin concentration was 288.8 ± 75.1 μg/mL, while in the ESCC patients, the mean clusterin concentration was higher at 412.3 ± 159.4 μg/mL (P < 0.0001). The 1-, 2-, and 4-year survival rates for the 87 ESCC patients were 89.70%, 80.00%, and 54.50%. Serum clusterin had an optimal diagnostic cut-off point (serum clusterin concentration = 335.5 μg/mL) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma with sensitivity of 71.26% and specificity of 77.94%. And higher serum clusterin concentration (>500 μg/mL) indicated better prognosis (P = 0.030).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Clusterin may play a key role during tumorigenesis and tumor progression of ESCC and it could be applied in clinical work as a tumor marker and prognostic factor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC), Shanghai 200032, China ; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC), Shanghai 200032, China ; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center and Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Public Health School, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China ; Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC), Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (FUSCC), Shanghai 200032, China ; Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jiaqing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Kimmel Cancer Center and Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 197 Ruijin 2nd Road, Shanghai 200025, China.
authors.forename: Hecheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D051152:Clusterin / Q000097:blood*; D004938:Esophageal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C495242:CLU protein, human; D051152:Clusterin