Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role of serum pro-gastrin-releasing peptide（Pro-GRP） in the diagnosis and treatment of small cell lung cancer（SCLC）. Methodse The levels of serum Pro-GRP,carcinoembryonic antigen（CEA）,squamous cell carcinoma antigen（SCC-Ag）,cytokeratin 19-fragment（CYFRA21-1） and neuron specific enolase（NSE） in 96 patients with SCLC（74 patients with limited SCLC and 22 patients with extensive SCLC）,63 patients with non-small cell lung cancer（NSCLC） and 76 healthy subjects（healthy control group） were determined. A total of 86 of 96 SCLC patients completed 1 cycle of chemotherapy. Results Compared with healthy control group and NSCLC group,the levels of Pro-GRP and NSE in SCLC group increased（P<0.001）,and serum SCC-Ag levels in SCLC group and NSCLC group were higher than that in healthy control group（P<0.001）. The levels of CEA and CYFRA21-1 were higher in NSCLC group than those in healthy control group and SCLC group（P<0.001）. The Pro-GRP level in patients with limited SCLC was lower than that in patients with extensive SCLC（P<0.01）. Pro-GRP and NSE were lower in SCLC patients after chemotherapy（P<0.001）. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve showed that the sensitivity of Pro-GRP in diagnosing SCLC was 84.5%,and the specificity was 98.6%,which were higher than those of NSE in diagnosing SCLC（77.6%,79.5%,respectively）. The areas under curves（AUC） of Pro-GRP and NSE were 0.960 and 0.849,respectively. The optimal cut-off values were 76.31 ng/L and 13.87 ng/mL,respectively. Conclusions Serum Pro-GRP is of significance in the diagnosis,clinical staging and treatment monitoring of SCLC.

Key words: Pro-gastrin-releasing peptide, Carcinoembryonic antigen, Squamous cell carcinoma antigen, Cytokeratin 19-fragment, Neuron specific enolase, Small cell lung cancer