Serum Level of Tumor-Specific Growth Factor in Patients with Cervical Cancer and Its Potential Prognostic Role

Abstract

Background: Tumor-specific growth factor (TSGF) is associated with invasion and metastasis of various malignancies and adverse clinical outcomes. TSGF is also highly expressed in cervical cancer (CC), but its clinical value is unclear. Materials and Methods: Serum samples from malignancies, including CC, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), colorectal cancer (CRC), lung cancer (LCA), ovarian cancer (OC), breast cancer (BC), gastric carcinoma (GC), and pancreatic cancer (PC) were collected, and TSGF was detected using a chemiluminescence assay. The patients with CC were followed-up over five years, and their clinicopathological parameters were analyzed. Meanwhile, the pre- and post-treatment TSGF levels of patients with CC were compared. The predictive and prognostic roles of TSGF were evaluated in the patients with CC using Kaplan-Meier survival curves, multivariate COX analyses, and ROC curves. Results: CC, CRC, and OC patients had higher serum TSGF than the healthy population (P < 0.05), and the serum TSGF of patients with CC was higher than that of other cancers (P < 0.05). Clinicopathologic analysis showed that TSGF was linked to CC tumor size, tumor invasion depth, histologic grade, and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, and TSGF had a high sensitivity of 56%. The post-treatment TSGF in patients with CC was significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier survival curves identified high TSGF as a significant poor predictor of metastasis-free, recurrence-free, and overall survival (OS). Multivariate COX analyses showed that TSGF was an independent prognostic factor for OS rate. The ROC curve revealed that serum TSGF levels had a significant ability to predict recurrence, while the cut-off value for TSGF was 66.94 U/mL. Serum TSGF levels notably decreased in post-therapeutic patients and gradually with treatment progress. Conclusions: Serum TSGF may be a novel potential indicator for predicting prognosis and recurrence after surgery and adjuvant therapy in patients with CC.