title: [An elevated pretreatment serum globulin level predicts a poor prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the value of serum globulin levels before treatment in predicting the prognosis of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 127 patients with non-disseminated NPC were recruited between January, 2009 and December, 2013 at Nanfang Hospital. The pretreatment serum globulin levels were analyzed with the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to select the cut-off point for low and high pretreatment serum globulin levels. Kaplan-Meier and multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the predictive value of serum globulin levels.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ROC curve analysis determined 30.05 g/L as the optimal cut-off value for pretreatment serum globulin level, which was significantly associated with gender (P=0.024) and N stage (P=0.016). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that a high pretreatment serum globulin level (>30.05 g/L) significantly predicted poor progression-free survival (P=0.019), overall survival (P=0.034) and distant metastasis-free survival (P=0.049); multivariate analysis identified pretreatment serum globulin level as an independent prognostic factor for progression-free survival (HR=2.344, P=0.031).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pretreatment serum globulin level may serve as a valuable marker to predict the prognosis of patients with NPC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China. E-mail: 18602062748@163.com.
authors.forename: Li-Ting
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huan-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Meng-Ru
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Cheng-Dong
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: De-Hua
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000077274:Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D012712:Serum Globulins / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D012712:Serum Globulins