The value of circulating CYFRA21-1 expression in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a study of 529 subjects

• Published in: International journal of clinical oncology Vol. 21; no. 6; pp. 1038 - 1045
• Main Authors: Song, Xin-mao, Wang, Zhu-jian, Cao, Wen-jun, Ji-Li, Chen, Fu, Wang, Sheng-zi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.12.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Antigens, Neoplasm - blood; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Cancer Research; Carcinoma; Chemoradiotherapy - methods; Female; Herpesvirus 4, Human - immunology; Humans; Keratin-19 - blood; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - blood; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - pathology; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms - virology; Neoplasm Staging; Oncology; Original Article; Patient Outcome Assessment; Prognosis; Radiation therapy; Reproducibility of Results; ROC Curve; Sensitivity and Specificity; Statistics as Topic; Surgical Oncology; Throat cancer; Tumors; Nasopharyngeal carcinoma; Tumor biomarker; Epstein–Barr virus antibodies; Cytokeratin 19 fragment 21.1
• ISSN: 1341-9625; 1437-7772; 1437-7772
• DOI: 10.1007/s10147-016-1020-y

Background Early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) needs more reliable biomarkers. The aim of this study was to investigate serum cytokeratin 19 fragment 21.1 (CYFRA21-1) as an NPC biomarker based on data from a large sample. Methods From October 2010 to February 2014, 529 subjects were enrolled and divided into three groups—NPC group ( n  = 274), healthy control group ( n  = 175) and nasal inflammatory disease group ( n  = 80). Serum CYFRA21-1 levels were measured prior to radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy, and their associations with T, N, and clinical classification were determined. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to discriminate the NPC group from the healthy control and nasal inflammatory disease groups. Three Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) antibodies and their correlations with serum CYFRA21-1 levels were analyzed. Results Pretreatment serum CYFRA21-1 levels were significantly elevated in the NPC group compared with the other groups ( p  < 0.01), Furthermore, serum CYFRA21-1 levels decreased significantly after radiotherapy ( p  < 0.01). Serum CYFRA21-1 levels were closely related to T, N, and clinical classifications. The area under the curve, sensitivity and specificity of the serum CYFRA21-1 levels in the NPC patients were 0.89, 0.87 and 0.83, respectively. Strong correlations were observed between serum CYFRA21-1 levels and EBV antibodies. Conclusion Serum CYFRA21-1 may be a reliable and effective biomarker for NPC.