High post‐treatment serum soluble receptor‐binding cancer antigen expressed on SiSo cells (sRCAS1) levels is associated with poor survival of patients with cervical cancer

Abstract

Aim Receptor‐binding cancer antigen expressed on SiSo cells (sRCAS1) is responsible for induction of selective immunosuppression. In addition, preclinical studies have shown that sRCAS1 levels may reflect cancer aggressiveness. The main aim of our study was to analyze pre‐ and post‐treatment levels of sRCAS1 in the sera of patients treated for cervical cancer and to evaluate whether the levels change during treatment and their impact on patient prognosis. Methods The study included 49 patients suffering from cervical cancer. The early stage cervical cancer patients (14) were treated surgically, while the advanced stage patients (35) underwent radiochemotherapy. Serum sRCAS1 levels were evaluated both before and after intervention with the use of the ELISA method. Results We have found that median serum sRCAS1 levels of patients before intervention were not significantly different from the levels assessed after intervention. There were also no differences when pre‐ and post‐treatment levels were compared within the group of early and of advanced stage patients. Serum sRCAS1 levels were not influenced by either the histopathological type of the tumor or the methods of treatment. High post‐intervention sRCAS1 levels indicated shortened OS when compared to low sRCAS1 levels. Neither pre‐intervention sRCAS1 levels nor the alteration in sRCAS1 levels during treatment were associated with patient prognosis. In multivariate analysis, post‐treatment sRCAS1 levels and clinical stage of cervical cancer remained as independent predictors of survival. Conclusion High post‐treatment serum sRCAS1 level in cervical cancer patients seems to be a negative prognostic factor for patient overall survival.

RCAS1 increases cell morphological changes in murine fibroblasts by reducing p38 phosphorylation

“…in fact, rcaS1 expression is related to malignant characteristics, such as tumor size, invasion depth, clinical stage and poor overall survival. Thus, a number of clinical studies have reported the clinical importance of rcaS1 (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). By contrast, there have been few basic studies of the biological functions of rcaS1.…”

“…A number of reports have shown the clinical significance of RCAS1 as a biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of malignant human tumors. RCAS1 expression has been observed in various malignant tumors and is correlated with poor prognosis of cancer patients; serum RCAS1 levels are also found to be significantly higher in cancer patients compared with healthy blood donors ( 21 – 25 ). Soluble-form RCAS1 has been shown to induce apoptosis in various human cell lines including normal peripheral lymphocytes, such as T and B cells and natural killer cells ( 19 , 26 ).…”