Tie-2, g-csf, and leptin as promising diagnostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer: A pilot study

Abstract

Preoperative determination of the extent of endometrial cancer (EC) would avoid the complications associated with radical surgery. Screening of patients’ plasma biomarkers might enable a more precise diagnosis of EC and a tailored treatment approach. This prospective case-control mo-nocentric pilot study included 76 postmenopausal women (38 endometrioid EC patients and 38 control patients with benign gynecological conditions), and 37 angiogenic factors (AFs) were investi-gated as potential biomarkers for EC. AF concentrations in preoperative plasma samples were meas-ured using Luminex xMAP™ multiplexing technology. The plasma levels of sTie-2 and G-CSF were significantly lower in EC compared to control patients, whereas the plasma levels of leptin were significantly higher in EC patients. Neuropilin-1 plasma levels were significantly higher in patients with type 2 EC (grade 3) compared to patients with lower grade cancer or controls. Follistatin levels were significantly higher in patients with lymphovascular invasion, and IL-8 plasma levels were significantly higher in patients with metastases. If validated, the plasma concentrations of the indi-cated AFs could represent an important additional diagnostic tool for the early detection and char-acterization of EC. This could guide the decision-making on the extent of surgery. Further studies with larger patient numbers are currently ongoing.