Prognostic significance of serum osteopontin levels in small-cell lung cancer

Abstract

BackgroudOsteopontin (OPN) is involved in the development and metastasis of a variety of tumors. This study explored serum OPN levels in patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and compared them with healthy controls.MethodsThe OPN levels of 96 patients with SCLC before and after first-line chemotherapy were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared with 60 healthy controls.ResultsThe pre-treatment serum OPN levels of patients with SCLC were higher than those of healthy controls (P<0.001). Serum OPN levels were significantly associated with disease stage, tumor size, and lymph node metastasis (P=0.012, 0.034, and 0.037, respectively). Serum OPN levels were significantly decreased after first-line chemotherapy (P=0.019), which was associated with treatment response (P=0.011), but there was no significant difference with pre-treatment OPN levels (P=0.485). Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that serum OPN levels, disease stage, and performance status were independent predictors of overall survival.ConclusionsOur results suggest that serum OPN levels can be used as biomarkers to predict treatment response and survival in patients with SCLC.