PREOPERATIVE PLASMA TETRANECTIN AS A PROGNOSTIC MARKER IN OVARIAN-CANCER PATIENTS

Plasma tetranectin (TN) was tested as a biochemical prognostic marker in ovarian cancer on 39 patients. In stage I + II the 5-year survival was 33% (2/6) if plasma TN was less-than-or-equal-to 6.7 mg l-1 and 10 0% (15/15) with plasma TN > 6.7 mg l-1. For stage III + IV the surviva l was 0% (0/11) at 26 months for patients with plasma TN less-than-or- equal-to 6.7 mg l-1 and 29% (2/7) after 5 years with plasma TN > 6.7 m g l-1. By multivariate testing the relative hazard (RH) of death was f ound to be 73 times higher in patients with plasma TN less-than-or-equ al-to 6.7 mg l-1 compared to patients with values above 6.7 mg l-1 (p < 0.001). For comparison, the maximal RH for the other tested variable s were: 15 for advanced stage, 2.5 for grade, four for residual tumour and 2.5 for younger age.