title: Serum HE4 is correlated to prognostic factors and survival in patients with endometrial cancer.
abstract: The extent of surgery and the decision for adjuvant treatment in patients with endometrial cancer (EC) depend on the presence of risk factors for lymph node metastases and disease recurrence. Postoperative markers such as myometrial infiltration and specific mutations can select patients for adjuvant treatment but will not influence surgical planning. A biomarker stratifying patients into low-risk and high-risk groups before surgery could identify patients who benefit from more extensive surgery. Therefore, we evaluated the correlation of serum biomarker HE4 with clinical and recently identified prognostic pathological variables and survival. Patients treated for endometrial cancer between 1994 and 2014 were included. Serum HE4 concentration was measured in preoperatively obtained samples. A total of 88 patients were eligible for analysis. The majority (64%) was diagnosed with endometrioid-type adenocarcinoma. Serum HE4 concentration is significantly associated with stage of disease (p = 0.001), deep myometrial invasion (p < 0.001), exact depth of myometrial invasion (≥4 mm) (p = 0.01), tumour-free distance to serosa (≤7 mm) (p < 0.001), extensive lymph vascular space invasion (p = 0.04) and cervical involvement (p = 0.001). HE4 concentration and nodal involvement were correlated, although not significant (p = 0.17). Serum HE4 is an independent prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival (HR 5.12 per 10-fold increase in HE4, 95% CI 1.54-17.1) and overall survival (HR 7.48 per 10-fold increase in HE4, 95% CI 1.76-31.7). HE4 is a prognostic marker in endometrial cancer and is helpful in addition to other variables for the preoperative risk stratification of patients with endometrial cancer.
authors.affiliation: Center for Gynaecologic Oncology Amsterdam, NKI-AVL, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. a.stiekema@nki.nl.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stiekema
authors.affiliation: Center for Gynaecologic Oncology Amsterdam, NKI-AVL, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Car
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lok
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Chemistry, NKI-AVL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Korse
authors.affiliation: Center for Gynaecologic Oncology Amsterdam, NKI-AVL, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: van Driel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biometrics, NKI-AVL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: van der Noort
authors.affiliation: Center for Gynaecologic Oncology Amsterdam, NKI-AVL, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Kenter
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, NKI-AVL, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Van de Vijver
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011506:Proteins; D000081102:WAP Four-Disulfide Core Domain Protein 2; C569698:WFDC2 protein, human
keywords: Endometrial cancer; Myometrial invasion; Prognosis; Serum HE4