title: Prognostic Significance of Serum Tumor Markers in Patients with Advanced-stage NSCLC Treated with Pemetrexed-based Chemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tumor biomarkers represent effective tools for diagnostics and follow-up monitoring of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We focused on evaluating the predictive and prognostic role of the seven following tumor biomarkers: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1), fragments of cytokeratin 8, 18 and 19 (MonoTotal), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), chromogranin A, thymidine kinase (TK) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) in patients with advanced-stage NSCLC treated with pemetrexed-based chemotherapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  In total, 114 patients with advanced-stage (IIIB or IV) non-squamous NSCLC treated with pemetrexed-based chemotherapy (monotherapy or combination with a platinum derivative) were included. Comparison of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) according to the level of assessed tumor markers was performed using the log-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We recorded significantly shorter OS for patients with high pretreatment levels of CYFRA 21-1 (10.3 vs. 23.4 months; p<0.001), NSE (1.6 vs. 13.5 months; p=0.003) and TK (11.3 vs. 23.4 months; p=0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CYFRA 21-1, NSE and TK are feasible biomarkers for estimation of a patient's overall prognosis, however, none of the measured serum tumor markers were able to predict the efficacy of pemetrexed-based chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic fiala.o@centrum.cz.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fiala
authors.affiliation: Department of Pneumology, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Milos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pesek
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jindrich
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Finek
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Svaton
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sorejs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biostatistics and Analysis, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zbynek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bortlicek
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Radek
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kucera
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical School and Teaching Hospital in Pilsen, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Topolcan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000068437:Pemetrexed; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000068437:Pemetrexed
keywords: Lung cancer; NSCLC; pemetrexed; prognosis; tumor marker