Abstract. Lung cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-related mortality. The identification of early diagnostic biomarkers improved outcomes for lung cancer patients. Serum fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) levels are elevated in numerous malignancies due to hemostatic alterations. The serum FDP levels were compared to the levels of cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen (CYFRA 21-1), another well-established biomarker. The serum samples from 193 lung cancer patients, 84 healthy controls and 106 patients with benign respiratory diseases were obtained. The serum FDP level was measured using the DR-70 immunoassay and the CYFRA 21-1 level was measured by electrochemiluminescence using the Roche Analytics E170. Receiver operating characteristics curves were used to assess the predictive sensitivity and specificity. The mean serum FDP level in lung cancer patients (35.01±229.02 µg/ml) was significantly higher compared to the 190 non-cancerous subjects (0.60±0.75 µg/ml; P=0.039). The mean serum CYFRA 21-1 level in lung cancer patients (4.50±6.67 ng/ml) was also significantly higher compared to the non-cancerous subjects (1.40±0.83 ng/ml; P<0.05). FDP exhibited clinical sensitivity and specificity of 86 and 75%, respectively, at an optimal cut-off at 0.67 µg/ml. CYFRA 21-1 exhibited clinical sensitivity and specificity of 77 and 74%, respectively, at a cut-off of 1.65 ng/ml. The serum FDP area under the curve (0.87) was slightly higher compared to CYFRA 21-1 (0.83). Therefore, it is apparent that serum FDP is comparable to CYFRA 21-1 as a lung cancer biomarker and can be used for clinical practice.

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Background: Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) regulates the proliferation and supports the viability of monocytes, macrophages, and their bone marrow progenitors. M-CSF is found in high concentrations in the serum of patients with various malignancies. This study aimed to evaluate the association between serum levels of M-CSF and clinicopathological features in a B-cell lymphoma patient group. Methods: Data of 101 patients with B-cell lymphoma and 48 healthy control subjects were evaluated. Staging for B-cell lymphoma was performed according to the Lugano criteria. Serum M-CSF concentrations were measured using the Quantikine ELISA Human M-CSF Immunoassay (R&D Systems, Inc., USA). We established a 95th percentile reference interval in healthy controls and reviewed the clinicopathological characteristics. Results: The 95th percentile of the serum M-CSF in healthy controls was 48.8-173.0 pg/mL. The mean serum M-CSF level in the patient group was significantly higher than that in the healthy control group (293.3±270.9 pg/mL vs. 97.3±34.6 pg/mL, P < 0.001). The mean M-CSF level was significantly higher in patients aged >60 years (P =0.027), and those with diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (P =0.046), advanced stages (P < 0.001), abnormal free light chain ratios (P =0.036), high-risk international prognostic index scores (P < 0.001), and lactate dehydrogenase above the reference range (P =0.002). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that elevated serum M-CSF levels have an association with adverse clinicopathological features in B-cell lymphoma patients and may be a potential prognostic predictor.

Background: Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in males and fourth most common in females in Korea. The levels of serum fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) are elevated in many malignancies due to haemostatic alterations resulting from carcinogenesis. We compared serum FDP with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to assess whether FDP has a diagnostic value for colon cancer. Methods: A total of 177 serum samples from 95 colon cancer patients and 82 healthy controls were provided by the Korea Cancer Center Hospital biobank. Serum FDP levels were measured using the DR-70 detection kits (AMDL, USA) and the levels of serum CEA were measured using the Roche E170 Analytics (Roche Diagnostics, Germany). Results: The mean serum FDP and serum CEA levels were significantly higher in the cancer patient group (FDP, 1.65±1.44 mg/mL; range, 0.36 to 9.48; CEA, 99.99±321.74 ng/ mL; range, 1.46 to 2,170.00) than in the control group (FDP, 0.58±0.46 mg/mL; range, 0.02 to 3.27, P<0.05; CEA, 1.66±1.18 ng/mL; range, 0.20 to 6.38, P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic curve for FDP showed 80% clinical sensitivity and 83% specificity with an optimal cutoff of 0.81 mg/mL, while that for CEA exhibited 84% sensitivity and 94% specificity with a cutoff of 3.51 ng/mL. The area under the curve was 0.87 and 0.96 for serum FDP and CEA, respectively. A combination of the two markers showed 90% clinical sensitivity and 92% specificity for colon cancer. Conclusions: The diagnostic sensitivity for colon cancer was increased by using a combination of FDP and CEA.