ABSTRACT

Objective:

Fibronectin (FN),vitronectin (VTN), and tip IV kollagen (Kol IV) are the important components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of serum levels of these molecules in pancreas adenocarcinoma (PA) patients.

Material and Methods:

A total of 33 patients with a pathologically confirmed diagnosis of PA and age- and sex-matched 30 healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Serum FN, VTN, and Kol IV concentrations were determined by the enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) method.

Results:

The median age at diagnosis was 59 years, range 32 to 84 years where 61% of the patients were male. Majority of the patients (70%) had good performance status (0-1). The most common tumor localization was head of pancreas (68%). Of the 9 patients who undergone surgical intervention, 5 patients (15%) had pancreaticoduodenectomy, while palliative surgery was performed in the remaining 4 (12%) patients. The baseline serum FN, VTN, and Kol IV levels were significantly higher in patients with PA than in the healthy control group (p=0.001, p=0.007 and p<0.001, respectively). Additionally, serum FN levels of the patients with jaundice (p=0.02), serum VTN levels of older patients - (p=0.03), and serum Kol IV levels of older patients, patients with metastasis and liver metastasis presence were detected to be significantly higher compared with others (p=0.009, p=0.05 and p=0.04, respectively). However, serum FN, VTN, and Kol IV levels had no prognostic role for outcome in PA patients (p=0.45, p=0.69 and p=0.11, respectively).

Conclusions:

Serum levels of ECM proteins were diagnostic markers in PA patients. However, their predictive and prognostic values were not determined.