Cellular fibronectin concentration in the plasma of patients with malignant and benign diseases: a comparison with CA 19-9 and CEA

Abstract

Summary EDAcFN enzyme immunoassay (EIA) is a new tumour marker assay measuring the extra domain A-containing isoform of cellular fibronectin (cFN), a component mainly found in extracellular matrices. The concentration cFN was measured in plasma and serum from 468 patients with malignant and benign diseases. The concentrations of cFN were higher in plasma than in serum. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, determination from plasma was superior to serum at specificity levels higher than 78% and was chosen for further analysis. The highest frequencies of elevated cFN values were seen in patients with hepato-pancreato-biliary malignancies (50-67%). In pancreatic and bile duct cancers, cFN provided little further information to that obtained by CA 19-9. The greatest advantage over CA 19-9 and CEA was seen in patients with local colorectal cancer and in hepatocellular carcinomas. Four out of nine patients with Dukes' stage B colorectal cancer had an elevated cFn level, but only one had an abnormal CEA level. In hepatocellular carcinomas, cFN was also compared with alpha-fetoprotein. The sensitivity of cFN (72%) was superior to that of AFP (61%), and concomitant use of cFN and AFP raised the sensitivity to 83%. The highest frequencies of elevated values in patients with benign diseases were observed in those with severe liver disease (32%) and biliary (17%) and pancreatic (24%) diseases. A combination of cFN and CA showed the highest overall sensitivity of 47%, compared with 31% for cFN and 33% for CA 19-9. The corresponding specificities were 76% for cFN ± CA 19-9, 85% for cFN and 83% for CA 19-9. The accuracy of a combination of cFN and CA 19-9 or CEA (60% respectively) was higher than that of cFN (55%), CA 19-9 (55%) or CEA (45%) alone. In conclusion, the results of the new cFN test are encouraging and further studies on larger patient materials have been started.

Fibronectin fibrils regulate TGF-β1-induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

“…Cells were incubated with plasma FN and TGF-β1 and the source of FN was probed through the use of a monoclonal Ab (3E2) specific to cellular FN and a polyclonal Ab that reacts with all FN. The concentration of exogenous soluble FN was selected based on previously measured concentrations in the plasma of patients with malignant tumors [69-71]. MCF10As were EGF and serum starved and then exposed to 10 nM soluble FN and 2 ng/ml TGF-β1 for 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours (images not shown).…”

Comparing transforming growth factor beta‐2 and fibronectin as pleurodesing agents

“…Fibronectin can be divided into the plasma (or soluble) and cellular (insoluble) forms. Cellular fibronectin, used in our experiment, is produced by most cells except hepatocytes and is the predominant form in the extracellular matrix 19 2 …”

“…Cellular fibronectin, used in our experiment, is produced by most cells except hepatocytes and is the predominant form in the extracellular matrix. 19 Fibronectin is chemotactic for fibroblasts and promotes their adhesion to the matrix. 2 High levels of fibronectin have been associated with various fibrotic conditions, including pulmonary fibrosis, 2 scleroderma 20 and hypertrophic scarring.…”

Evaluation of Cellular Fibronectin Plasma Levels as a Useful Staging Tool in Different Stages of Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the Bladder and Renal Cell Carcinoma

“…However, up to now the function of cFN is not clearly known (Warawdekar et al 2006; Akiyama et al 1995). Few studies described the potential role of cFN in different malignancies (Ylatupa et al 1995; Haglund et al 1997; Torbenson et al 2002; Warawdekar et al 2006). For example in hepatocellular carcinoma an over-expression of fibronectin protein was found (Torbenson et al 2002).…”