Evaluation of some tissue and serum biomarkers in prostatic carcinoma among Egyptian males

sE-cadherin serves as a diagnostic and predictive parameter in prostate cancer patients

BACKGROUND

Measurement of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) advanced the diagnostic and prognostic potential for prostate cancer (PCa). However, due to PSA's lack of specificity, novel biomarkers are needed to improve risk assessment and ensure optimal personalized therapy. A set of protein molecules as potential biomarkers was therefore evaluated in serum of PCa patients.

METHODS

Serum samples from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy (RPE) for biopsy-proven PCa without neoadjuvant treatment were compared to serum samples from healthy subjects. Preliminary screening of 119 proteins in 10 PCa patients and 10 controls was carried out by the Proteome Profiler Antibody Array. Those markers showing distinct differences between patients and controls were then further evaluated by ELISA in the serum of 165 PCa patients and 19 controls. Uni- and multivariate as well as correlation analysis were performed to test the capability of these molecules to detect disease and predict pathological outcome.

RESULTS

Screening showed that soluble (s)E-cadherin, E-selectin, MMP2, MMP9, TIMP1, TIMP2, Galectin and Clusterin warranted further evaluation. sE-Cadherin, TIMP1, Galectin and Clusterin were significantly over- and MMP9 under-expressed in PCa compared to controls. The concentration of sE-cadherin, MMP2 and Clusterin correlated negatively and that of MMP9 and TIMP1 positively with the Gleason Sum at prostatectomy. Only sE-cadherin significantly correlated with the highest Gleason pattern. Compared to serum PSA, sE-cadherin provided an independent and better matching predictive ability for discriminating PCas with an upgrade at RPE and aggressive tumors with a Gleason Sum ≥7.

CONCLUSIONS

sE-cadherin performed most favorably from a large panel of serum proteins in terms of diagnostic and predictive potential in curatively treatable PCa. sE-cadherin merits further investigation as a biomarker for PCa.

Relationships among changes in tongue coating, levels of serum soluble E-cadherin, clinical examination parameters and gastric adenocarcinoma

AIM: To investigate the relationship between serum soluble E-cadherin (sE-cad) levels and changes in tongue coating in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma and healthy controls.

METHODS: This was a case-control study involving 266 gastric adenocarcinoma cases and 252 healthy controls. Serum levels of sE-cad were measured by ELISA. The correlations among serum sE-cad levels, clinical examination parameters and type of tongue coating were analyzed using nonparametric tests.

RESULTS: Serum levels of sE-cad were significantly higher in gastric adenocarcinoma cases than in healthy controls (P < 0.01), in patients before operation than in those after operation (P < 0.05), and in patients with metastasis than in those without metastasis (P < 0.05). The levels of sE-cad were highest in patients with white thick coating, followed by those with white thin coating, yellow thick coating, yellow thin coating and exfoliative coating (P < 0.05), whereas the order in healthy controls was yellow thin coating, yellow thick coating, white thin coating, white thick coating and exfoliative coating (P > 0.05). The proportion of gastric adenocarcinoma cases with abnormal clinical examination parameters was higher than that of healthy controls (P < 0.05). Especially, gastric adenocarcinoma cases with thick and thin coatings and abnormal total protein had higher levels of sE-cad than healthy controls (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The changes in thick and thin coatings and levels of total protein and sE-cad in serum can offer clues for diagnosis and treatment of gastric adenocarcinoma.