Inflammatory biomarkers and cancer: CRP and suPAR as markers of incident cancer in patients with serious nonspecific symptoms and signs of cancer

38Citations
Citations of this article
73Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

In Denmark, patients with serious nonspecific symptoms and signs of cancer (NSSC) are referred to the diagnostic outpatient clinics (DOCs) where an accelerated cancer diagnostic program is initiated. Various immunological and inflammatory biomarkers have been associated with cancer, including soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) and the pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) pentraxin-3, mannose-binding lectin, ficolin-1, ficolin-2 and ficolin-3. We aimed to evaluate these biomarkers and compare their diagnostic ability to classical biomarkers for diagnosing cancer in patients with NSSC. Patients were included from the DOC, Department of Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre. Patients were given a final diagnosis based on the combined results from scans, blood work and physical examination. Weight loss, Charlson score and previous cancer were registered on admission, and plasma concentrations of biomarkers were measured. The primary outcome was incident cancer within 1 year. Out of 197 patients included, 39 patients (19.8%) were diagnosed with cancer. Patients with cancer were significantly older and had a higher burden of comorbidities and previous cancer diagnoses compared to patients who were not diagnosed with cancer. Previous cancer, C-reactive protein (CRP) and suPAR were significantly associated with newly diagnosed cancer during follow-up in multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and CRP. Neither any of the PRRs investigated nor self-reported weight loss was associated with cancer. In this study, previous cancer, CRP and suPAR were significantly associated with cancer diagnosis in patients with NSSC. Ficolin-1-3, MBL and pentraxin-3 were not associated with cancer.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Rasmussen, L. J. H., Schultz, M., Gaardsting, A., Ladelund, S., Garred, P., Iversen, K., … Kronborg, G. (2017). Inflammatory biomarkers and cancer: CRP and suPAR as markers of incident cancer in patients with serious nonspecific symptoms and signs of cancer. International Journal of Cancer, 141(1), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.30732

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free