Clinical application and prognostic assessment of serum Tumor Associated Material (TAM) from esophageal cancer patients

K. Zhou, Y. Yan, S. Zhao, B. Li

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. yanyancn@yeah.net

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between serum levels of Tumor Associated Materials (TAM) and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer (EC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: The levels of TAM were determined by chemical colorimetry in 100 EC patients and 100 healthy controls.

RESULTS: Serum TAM levels were significantly higher in patients with esophageal carcinoma than in the control group (p < 0.001). High levels of TAM were associated with tumor size (p = 0.004), tumor depth (p < 0.001), stage (p < 0.001), lymph node metastases (p < 0.001), tumor differentiation (p = 0.001), tumor respectability (p = 0.002) and disease progression (p < 0.001). The poor prognostic outcomes were correlated with an elevated level of TAM (p = 0.001). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed patients with increased levels of TAM after operation had an lower overall survival (p < 0.001) and disease-free survival (p < 0.001). In addition, multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses revealed that TAM may be an independent factor affecting the overall survival and disease-free survival (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: The detection of TAM could be used to screen for tumor and assess unfavorable prognosis in patients with EC.

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