Elevated plasma big ET-1 is associated with distant failure in patients with advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Hai-Qiang Mai; Zong-Yuan Zeng; Chang-Qing Zhang; Kai-Tao Feng; Xiang Guo; Hao-Yuan Mo; Man-Quan Deng; Hua-Qing Min; Ming-Huang Hong

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 113 KB
• Volume: 106
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0008-543X
• DOI: 10.1002/cncr.21790

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Endothelin‐1 (ET‐1) is a potent vasoactive peptide and a hypoxia‐inducible angiogenic growth factor associated with the development and spread of solid tumors. The clinical significance of plasma big ET‐1 in patients with advanced‐stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not known.

METHODS

Pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 levels were measured in 62 patients with advanced‐stage NPC using a sandwich enzyme‐linked immunoassay and compared with the levels from a control group (n = 19 participants).

RESULTS

The median pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level in patients with advanced‐stage NPC was 4.6 pg/mL (range, 1.9‐15.2 pg/mL) and was significantly elevated compared with median plasma big ET‐1 levels in healthy controls, 2.6 pg/mL (1.6‐4.5 pg/mL) (P < .001). Using the upper limit (4.5 pg/mL) of control subjects as the cut‐off value, plasma big ET‐1 was ≤ 4.5 pg/mL in 29 (46.8%) patients and > 4.5 pg/mL in 33 (53.2%) patients. A pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level > 4.5 pg/mL was associated with a significantly poorer 2‐year distant metastasis‐free survival rate (56.7% vs. 81.1%, P = .031). Multivariate analysis showed that N classification (hazard ratio [HR], 2.416; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.071‐5.447; P = .034) and pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 level (HR, 3.151; 95% CI, 1.099‐9.028, P = .033) were independent significant prognostic factors for posttreatment distant failure in patients with advanced‐stage NPC.

CONCLUSIONS

Pretreatment plasma big ET‐1 levels may be useful in predicting posttreatment distant failure in patients with advanced‐stage NPC. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.