Specific Receptors for the Chemokines CXCR2 and CXCR4 in Pancreatic Cancer

Abstract

Background: The mortality rate of pancreatic cancer (PC) is equal to its incidence and the majority of PC patients die within a few months of diagnosis. Therefore, a search for new biomarkers useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of PC is ongoing.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to compare the utility of CXCR2 and CXCR4 in the diagnosis and prediction of PC with classical tumor marker (carcinoembryonic antigen, CEA) and marker of inflammation-C-reactive protein (CRP).

Patients and methods: The study comprised 64 subjects - 32 PC patients and 32 healthy volunteers. Serum concentrations of tested proteins were analysed using immunological methods.

Results: Serum CXCR2 and CXCR4 concentrations, similarly to those of CEA and CRP, were significantly elevated in PC patients compared to healthy controls. Moreover, concentrations of CXCR4 were significantly correlated with CXCR2 and CRP levels, while CRP concentrations were correlated with CXCR2 and CEA levels. The diagnostic sensitivity and the predictive value for negative (PV_-ve) results for CXCR4 were similar to those of CEA and higher than those of CXCR2 and CRP, while the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for CXCR4 was the highest among all tested proteins (CXCR2, CEA, CRP). Moreover, serum CXCR2 was found to be a significant predictor of PC risk.

Conclusions: CXCR4 is a better candidate for a tumor marker than CXCR2 in the diagnosis of PC, while serum CXCR2 is a significant predictor of PC risk.

Keywords: biomarker; pancreatic cancer; receptors for chemokines.

Figure 1

The percentage of elevated concentrations of CXCR4 and CXCR-2, well-established tumor marker (CEA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in pancreatic cancer (PC) patients.

Figure 2

Areas under ROC curves (AUC) for CXCR4 (0.8496, p < 0.001), receptor CXCR2 (0.7373, p = 0.002), CEA (0.7539, p < 0.001), CRP (0.8013, p < 0.001) in pancreatic cancer patients.