title: Serum cripto-1 as a clinical marker for lung cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cripto-1 (CR-1) plays an important role in angiogenesis related to tumor growth, in concert with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and enhanced expression of CR-1 has been reported in lung cancer tissue.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with lung cancer (n = 156) and healthy volunteers (n = 60) were enrolled in the study. Serum CR-1 and VEGF concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with lung cancer had higher serum CR-1 (4.03 ± 1.49 ng/mL vs. 1.13 ± 0.43 ng/mL, p&lt;0.05) and VEGF (503.62 ± 112.74 pg/mL vs. 398.62 ± 117.84 pg/mL, p&lt;0.05) levels than the control group. With stage progression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), serum CR-1 levels increased, and patients with distant metastasis had higher levels than those without metastasis (p&lt;0.05). In NSCLC, the low CR-1 group (&lt;1.54 ng/mL) had a better overall survival rate compared with the high CR-1 group (&gt;1.54 ng/mL, p&lt;0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study suggests that serum CR-1 is a useful diagnostic and prognostic marker for NSCLC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Chest Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.|Clinical Center of Nanjing Respiratory Diseases and Imaging, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Clinical Center of Nanjing Respiratory Diseases and Imaging, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Clinical Center of Nanjing Respiratory Diseases and Imaging, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Nanjing Chest Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.|Clinical Center of Nanjing Respiratory Diseases and Imaging, Nanjing, Jiangsu - PR China.
authors.forename: Li-Ke
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012372:ROC Curve; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C070636:TDGF1 protein, human; C467484:VEGFA protein, human; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A