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Biomarker may predict lymph node metastases in prostate cancer
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In patients with clinically localized prostate adenocarcinoma, the preoperative level of plasma endoglin may be the greatest predictor of pelvic lymph node metastases, according to recent study results.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and other institutions conducted a multivariable analysis of banked plasma from 425 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with radical prostatectomy and bilateral lymphadenectomy between July 1994 and November 1997.
Patients with higher preoperative total serum PSA, positive surgical margins (P=.03), higher pathologic Gleason sum (P=.04) and lymph node metastasis (P<.001) had higher levels of preoperative plasma endoglin. Preoperative endoglin (P<.001) and biopsy Gleason sum (P=.04) were the only factors linked to lymph node metastases in a preoperative analysis that included PSA and clinical stage, according to the study.
Accuracy of lymph node metastases prediction improved from 89.4% to 97.8% (P<.001) when endoglin was added to a standard preoperative model that included PSA, clinical stage and biopsy Gleason sum. – by Stacey L. Adams
Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14:1418-1422.