Tumor M2-Pyruvate Kinase, a New Metabolic Marker for Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

An isoenzyme of pyruvate kinase (Tu M2-PK) is overexpressed by tumor cells and can be measured in blood by a specific immunoenzymatic assay. Our objective was to investigate the diagnostic value of Tu M2-PK in comparison with that of CA 19-9 in pancreatic cancer. We studied 265 subjects: 60 with histologically confirmed pancreatic cancer, 43 with benign pancreatic diseases (acute and chronic pancreatitis), 5 with benign cystic neoplasms of the pancreas, 9 with neuroendocrine tumors, 77 with other abdominal malignancies, 47 with benign digestive diseases, and 24 healthy controls. Levels of plasma Tu M2-PK and serum CA 19-9 were determined by commercially available specific immunoassays. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of Tu M2-PK for pancreatic cancer were 85 and 41%, respectively, while those of CA 19-9 were 75 and 81%. The combination of the two tests significantly increased sensitivity (97%) but lowered specificity (38%). In discriminating between pancreatic cancer and acute or chronic pancreatitis, Tu M2-PK turned out to be less accurate than CA 19-9. In patients without pancreatic tumor, cholestasis appeared not to affect the values of Tu M2-PK, while CA 19-9 was found to be significantly higher. Tu M2-PK was also abnormally high in the majority of patients with other digestive malignancies or neuroendocrine tumors. The results demonstrate that Tu M2-PK has a satisfactory sensitivity but a poor specificity in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Used together with CA 19-9, the sensitivity increases considerably.

Visible Drug Delivery by Supramolecular Nanocarriers Directing to Single-Platformed Diagnosis and Therapy of Pancreatic Tumor Model

“…6B). The K-rich regions possibly correspond to pancreatic cancer cells because K is a cofactor required to obtain maximum activity of the pyruvate kinase, an enzyme involved in glycolytic energy production, which has been observed in carcinoma tissue of the pancreas (31). The Gd as well as the Pt atoms located at those K-rich areas suggest the selective tumor accumulation of Gd-DTPA and DACHPt.…”

Molecular markers of pancreatic cancer: development and clinical relevance

“…The pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 (M2-PK) is expressed in proliferating cells and tumour cells [87]. A study from Italy has shown that the blood levels of M2-PK had a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 41% for the diagnosis of PC [88]. Our group is currently evaluating tumour M2-PK levels in stool of patients suffering from chronic pancreatitis and PC.…”

A Novel Serum Metabolomics-Based Diagnostic Approach to Pancreatic Cancer

“…Screening tests for the general population have to be accurate, safe, and convenient, as well as capable of high throughput. Many researchers have devoted considerable effort to discovering biomarkers of pancreatic cancer (8)(9)(10), and CA242 (11), M2-pyruvate kinase (12), PBF-4 (13), MIC-1 (14), PNA-binding glycoprotein (15), hTert (16), MMP-2 (17), and synuclein-g (18) have been reported as candidate biomarkers, but they were not clinically superior to CA19-9 or other clinical examinations.…”