1. Plasma levels of transforming growth factor-beta 1 before and after removal of low- and high-grade astrocytomas
- Author
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Joon-Khim Loh, Yu-Feng Su, Chih-Jen Wang, Kung-Shing Lee, Tai-Hsin Tsai, Yi-Ren Hong, Ann-Shung Lieu, Aij-Lie Kwan, Chung-Ching Chio, Chi-Yun Cheng, Shiuh-Lin Hwang, Shen-Long Howng, and Chih-Lung Lin
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Immunology ,Urology ,Brain tumor ,Astrocytoma ,Biochemistry ,Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ,Young Adult ,Glioma ,medicine ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Child ,Prospective cohort study ,Molecular Biology ,Aged ,biology ,Receiver operating characteristic ,business.industry ,Hematology ,Transforming growth factor beta ,Plasma levels ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Magnetic Resonance Imaging ,Survival Analysis ,Cranioplasty ,Treatment Outcome ,ROC Curve ,Case-Control Studies ,Child, Preschool ,biology.protein ,Female ,Neoplasm Grading ,business - Abstract
Transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) has been reported to be a possible marker for a number of tumors, including brain tumors. The aim of this study was to measure the plasma levels of TGF-β1 in patients with low- and high-grade astrocytomas before and after surgery. This prospective study included 14 patients with low-grade astrocytomas and 25 with high-grade astrocytomas who underwent tumor removal and 13 controls (patients who underwent cranioplasty for skull bone defects). Plasma levels of TGF-β1 were measured in all subjects using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that when the level of TGF-β1 before tumor removal was ≥ 2.52 ng/ml, astrocytoma was predicted with a sensitivity of 94.9% and specificity of 100%. The mean plasma level of TGF-β1 in both the low-grade and high-grade astrocytoma groups significantly decreased after tumor removal (p0.05); there was no significant change in TGF-β1 plasma level of the controls following surgery. Patients with high-grade astrocytomas had a significantly higher mortality rate than patients with low-grade astrocytomas (p=0.019) and significantly shorter survival (p=0.008). A positive correlation between TGF-β1 level after tumor removal and tumor volume was only found in the high-grade astrocytoma group (γ=0.597, p=0.002). The findings show that plasma TGF-β1 level was increased in patients with low-grade and high-grade astrocytoma, and that the levels significantly decreased after tumor removal in both groups. The results provide additional evidence that TGF-β1 might be useful as a tumor marker for astrocytomas.
- Published
- 2013