Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Fibulin-3 and Mesothelin in Patients with Pleural Effusions from Malignant Mesothelioma.
In the literature, there exist conflicting data on the value of fibulin-3 (FBLN3) for the diagnosis of pleural effusion (PE) in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Therefore we compared the diagnostic performance of FBLN3 against that of soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) in a cohort of Italian patients.



FBLN3 and SMRP were detected in PE from 33 patients with MPM, 64 with pleural benign lesions and 23 with non-MPM pleural metastases using a commercial enzyme-linked-immunosorbent(ELISA)-assay kit according to manufacturers' instructions.



Levels of FBLN3 were similar in PE from MPM and PE from other pathologies (geometric mean=68.1 vs. 66.2 ng/ml; p=0.872) in contrast to SMRP levels, which were significantly higher in PE from MPM (geometric mean=14.6 vs. 3.2 nM; p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis confirmed that SMRP showed a good performance (area under the curve=0.79, p<0.001), whereas FBLN3 was not able to discriminate MPM from other pathologies (area under the curve=0.44, p=0.838).



FBLN3 detection in PE, in contrast to SMRP detection, is not useful as a biomarker for the diagnosis of PE from MPM.
Division of Clinical Pathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Enrico
E
Battolla
Division of Pneumology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Pier Aldo
PA
Canessa
Division of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Paola
P
Ferro
Division of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Maria Cristiana
MC
Franceschini
Unit of Clinical Epidemiology, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy.
Vincenzo
V
Fontana
Division of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Paolo
P
Dessanti
Division of Pneumology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Valentina
V
Pinelli
Unit of Tumor Epigenetics, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy.
Anna
A
Morabito
Division of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy.
Franco
F
Fedeli
Unit of Tumor Epigenetics, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria San Martino-Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genoa, Italy.
Maria Pia
MP
Pistillo
Division of Histopathology and Cytopathology, Azienda Sanitaria Locale n°5, La Spezia, Italy silvio.roncella@asl5.liguria.it.
Silvio
S
Roncella
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000086002:Mesothelioma, Malignant; D008875:Middle Aged; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D012372:ROC Curve
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; D027425:ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C Proteins; C120809:ABCC5 protein, human; C119630:EFEMP1 protein, human
Malignant pleural mesothelioma; fibulin-3; mesothelin; pleural effusion