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Increased Serum Levels of Complement C3a Anaphylatoxin Indicate the Presence of Colorectal Tumors.
- Source :
- Gastroenterology (00165085); Oct2006, Vol. 131 Issue 4, p1020-1029, 10p
- Publication Year :
- 2006
-
Abstract
- Background & Aims: Late diagnosis of colorectal carcinoma results in a significant reduction of average survival times. Yet despite screening programs, about 70% of tumors are detected at advanced stages (International Union Against Cancer stages III/IV). We explored whether detection of malignant disease would be possible through identification of tumor-specific protein biomarkers in serum samples. Methods: A discovery set of sera from patients with colorectal malignancy (n = 58) and healthy control individuals (n = 32) were screened for potential differences using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Candidate proteins were identified and their expression levels were validated in independent sample sets using a specific immunoassay (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Results: By using class comparison and custom-developed algorithms we identified several m/z values that were expressed differentially between the malignant samples and the healthy controls of the discovery set. Characterization of the most prominent m/z values revealed a member of the complement system, the stable form of C3a anaphylatoxin (ie, C3a-desArg). Based on a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, serum levels of complement C3a-desArg predicted the presence of colorectal malignancy in a blinded validation set (n = 59) with a sensitivity of 96.8% and a specificity of 96.2%. Increased serum levels were also detected in 86.1% of independently collected sera from patients with colorectal adenomas (n = 36), whereas only 5.6% were classified as normal. Conclusions: Complement C3a-desArg is present at significantly higher levels in serum from patients with colorectal adenomas (P < .0001) and carcinomas (P < .0001) than in healthy individuals. This suggests that quantification of C3a-desArg levels could ameliorate existing screening tests for colorectal cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Subjects :
- CANCER patients
MEDICAL screening
BIOMARKERS
BLOOD plasma
DIAGNOSIS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00165085
- Volume :
- 131
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Supplemental Index
- Journal :
- Gastroenterology (00165085)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 22607616
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2006.07.011