title: Evaluation of serum granulysin as a potential biomarker for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Granulysin (GNLY) is excreted from cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells, and plays an important role in antitumor immunity. However, few studies have estimated serum GNLY concentrations in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). We evaluated GNLY as a potential biomarker for NPC.
  
  
  METHODS
  Serum GNLY concentrations were measured in blood samples taken from 98 NPC patients, 56 nasopharyngitis (NPT) patients, and 99 healthy subjects. The clinical relevance of GNLY in NPC was also investigated. We also assessed the association between serum GNLY and serum immunoglobulin A antibodies against the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) viral capsid antigen (VCA-IgA) and EBV DNA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum GNLY levels were significantly lower in NPC patients and significantly higher in nasopharyngitis patients compared to healthy controls. Thus, serum GNLY performs well as a biomarker for distinguishing between NPC and NPT. The serum GNLY concentration is elevated with corresponding increases in clinical stage and shows a significant correlation with VCA-IgA and EBV DNA concentration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum GNLY is closely associated with the clinical characteristics of NPC and may be a potential biomarker for NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China.
authors.forename: Jianhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, The Eastern Hospital of First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510700, PR China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Molecular Diagnostics, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China.
authors.forename: Wenting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China.
authors.forename: Xueping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, PR China. Electronic address: linjh@sysucc.org.cn.
authors.forename: Wanli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte / Q000097:blood*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002277:Carcinoma; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C075005:GNLY protein, human
keywords: Biomarker; Epstein–Barr virus; Granulysin; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Nasopharyngitis