title: Circulating Chromogranin A as A Marker for Monitoring Clinical Response in Advanced Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors.
abstract: Chromogranin A (CgA), present in the chromaffin granules of neuroendocrine cells, is a useful biomarker for the diagnosis of patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). This study was conducted to investigate the potential role of circulating CgA in monitoring clinical response in Chinese patients with advanced GEP-NETs. Eighty patients with advanced GEP-NETs treated in Peking University Cancer Hospital from September 2011 to May 2014 and 65 healthy individuals were included in this study. Serum CgA levels were analyzed for relationship with patient's baseline characteristics and clinical outcome. Median CgA levels were significantly higher in patients with advanced GEP-NETs than in healthy individuals (93.8 ng/mL vs. 37.1 ng/mL; P<0.01), as well as significantly higher in patients with carcinoid syndrome or liver metastasis than in those without carcinoid syndrome (298.8 ng/mL vs. 82.9 ng/mL; P = 0.011) or liver metastasis (137.0 ng/mL vs. 64.4 ng/mL; P = 0.023). A CgA cutoff value of 46.2 ng/mL was used in this study with a sensitivity of 78.8% and specificity of 73.8%. Patients with CgA levels higher than 46.2 ng/mL had a worse prognosis than patients with CgA levels lower than 46.2 ng/mL (P = 0.045). Notably, a weak correlation was observed between changes in serum CgA levels and clinical response to the IP regimen as well as SSAs. Our data also indicate that serum CgA could be a useful indicator of patient prognosis though there is more research required in order to validate such claims.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Tiantian
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhongwu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhihao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Key laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), Peking University Cancer Hospital & Institute, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D053379:Chromogranin A / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018358:Neuroendocrine Tumors / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology*; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D053379:Chromogranin A