Jm. Bhatavdekar et al., CIRCULATING MARKERS AND GROWTH-FACTORS AS PROGNOSTICATORS IN MEN WITHADVANCED TONGUE CANCER, Tumor biology, 14(1), 1993, pp. 55-58
A retrospective study was performed on 52 advanced tongue cancer patie
nts (stages III + IV) in order to assess the prognostic value of circu
lating prolactin, tissue polypeptide-specific antigen (TPS), insulin-l
ike growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and epidermal growth factor (EGF). These m
arkers were correlated with short-term prognosis (2 years). The advanc
ed tongue cancer patients had significantly elevated levels of prolact
in (p < 0.02), TPS (p < 0.05) and EGF (p < 0.01) and low levels of IGF
-1 when compared to controls. The patients were grouped according to t
he commonly used cut-off levels of these markers. A significant differ
ence in survival was observed only between two subgroups of prolactin
(< 15.0 and > 15.0 ng/ml; p < 0.001). Hence, prolactin may provide an
independent predictor of short-term prognosis in patients with advance
d tongue cancer.