Serum GROβ: a potential tumor-associated biomarker for colorectal cancer.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to confirm the potential of growth-related gene product β (GROβ) as a biomarker for colorectal cancer. We compared serum GROβ levels in patients with colorectal cancer, healthy individuals and individuals with non-tumor diseases.


METHODS
We measured serum GROβ levels with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in patients with colorectal cancer (123 preoperative samples and 66 postoperative samples), 88 healthy controls and 125 individuals with other diseases. Serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) were measured in all samples with an immunoluminometric assay. Statistical analyses were performed to determine associations between serum GROβ levels and clinical parameters for colorectal cancer. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was analyzed for GROβ, CEA and CA19-9.


RESULTS
The serum GROβ levels were much higher in patients with colorectal cancer (median: 96.15 pg/ml) than those in healthy controls (median: 43.28 pg/ml, P < 0.01) and other disease controls (median: 57.30 pg/ml, P < 0.01). Serum GROβ levels in colorectal cancer were correlated positively with tumor-node-metastasis staging (P < 0.01) and the depth of infiltration (P < 0.05), but not with the histological grade, tumor embolus, lymph node metastasis, gross pathologic tumor type, or patient gender. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay for serum GROβ were 56.1% (69/123) and 95.31% (203/213), respectively. The area under the ROC curve constructed with GROβ (0.834) was larger than that constructed with CEA (0.739) or CA19-9 (0.676) for discriminating colorectal cancer from matched controls.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary results suggested that the serum GROβ level could be a useful biomarker for colorectal cancer diagnoses.
Department of Abdominal Surgery, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Beijing, PR China.
Zhaoxu
Z
Zheng
Tangshan People's Hospital & Tangshan Cancer Hospital of Hebei United University Tangshan, Hebei Province.
Min
M
Zheng
Department of Abdominal Surgery, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Beijing, PR China.
Jianjun
J
Bi
Department of Abdominal Surgery, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Beijing, PR China.
Qiang
Q
Feng
Clinical Laboratory of China Meitan General Hospital Beijing, PR China.
Zhigang
Z
Yue
Clinical Laboratory of China Meitan General Hospital Beijing, PR China.
Yanqiu
Y
Zhou
Tangshan People's Hospital & Tangshan Cancer Hospital of Hebei United University Tangshan, Hebei Province.
Wanning
W
Hu
Department of Abdominal Surgery, Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College Beijing, PR China.
Haizeng
H
Zhang
Clinical Laboratory of China Meitan General Hospital Beijing, PR China.
Hongjun
H
Gao
CA19-9; CEA; GROβ; biomarker; colorectal cancer