GP88/PGRN Serum Levels Are Associated with Prognosis for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients
1
Center for Reproductive Medicine and Andrology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
2
Department of Radiotherapy, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
3
A&G Pharmaceutical Inc., Columbia, Maryland, MD 21045, USA
4
Program in Oncology, University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
5
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Plastic Surgery, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
6
Clinic of Urology and Pediatric Urology, FA University Hospital Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
7
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Plastic Surgery, Klinikum Nürnberg Breslauer, Paracelsus Medical University, 90471 Nürnberg, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These two authors contributed equally.
Biology 2021, 10(5), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10050400
Received: 24 March 2021
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Revised: 12 April 2021
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Accepted: 29 April 2021
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Published: 4 May 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Cancer Biology)
Simple Summary
An oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a tumor of the oral cavity that has a five-year survival rate of only around 50%. As this rate has not increased in recent decades, despite improvements in diagnosis and therapy, novel, easily accessible biomarkers for prognosis assessment are still needed. In our study, we measured the growth factor protein progranulin/GP88 in the serum of OSCC patients and demonstrated that an increased serum GP88 level is associated with a better prognosis for the OSCC patients in our study group. Furthermore, serum GP88 levels were not significantly associated with age, sex, or the tumor’s histological features, indicating that serum GP88 levels may be an independent predictor of an individual OSCC patient’s prognosis. These findings may help to improve therapy management of an OSCC in personalized medicine.
Progranulin (PGRN)/GP88 is a growth factor that is expressed in a wide range of tumor tissues. The secreted form is involved in various biological processes including proliferation and inflammation. In several tumor types, the serum GP88 level is associated with a patient’s prognosis; however, data for oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) have not yet been reported. We measured the serum GP88 levels in 96 OSCC patients by an enzyme immunosorbent assay (EIA) and correlated these data with clinicopathological parameters and patient outcomes. The GP88 levels in the serum of OSCC patients and healthy volunteers were comparable. In OSCC patients, the levels did not correlate with age, sex, or TNM status. In a Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, a serum GP88 level < 68 ng/mL was significantly associated with worsened survival (p = 0.0005, log-rank-test) as well as in uni- and multivariate Cox regression analyses (RR = 4.6 [1.6–12.9], p = 0.004 and RR = 4.2 [1.2–12.0], p = 0.008). This effect was predominant in OSCC patients older than 60.5 years (p = 0.027), while in younger patients no significant association between serum GP88 levels and prognosis could be observed. Altogether, lower serum GP88 levels are significantly associated with a worsened outcome for an OSCC and may be an interesting candidate for risk stratification during OSCC therapy.
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Keywords:
GP88; progranulin; serum; OSCC; prognosis
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MDPI and ACS Style
Greither, T.; Steiner, T.; Bache, M.; Serrero, G.; Otto, S.; Taubert, H.; Eckert, A.W.; Kappler, M. GP88/PGRN Serum Levels Are Associated with Prognosis for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients. Biology 2021, 10, 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10050400
AMA Style
Greither T, Steiner T, Bache M, Serrero G, Otto S, Taubert H, Eckert AW, Kappler M. GP88/PGRN Serum Levels Are Associated with Prognosis for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients. Biology. 2021; 10(5):400. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10050400
Chicago/Turabian StyleGreither, Thomas, Tina Steiner, Matthias Bache, Ginette Serrero, Sven Otto, Helge Taubert, Alexander W. Eckert, and Matthias Kappler. 2021. "GP88/PGRN Serum Levels Are Associated with Prognosis for Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients" Biology 10, no. 5: 400. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10050400
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