T. Okusaka et al., SERUM LEVELS OF PRO-GASTRIN-RELEASING PEPTIDE FOR FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS WITH SMALL-CELL LUNG, Clinical cancer research, 3(1), 1997, pp. 123-127
To assess the clinical usefulness of serum pro-gastrin-releasing pepti
de (Pro-GRP) as a tumor marker for small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), w
e measured serum levels of Pro-GRP with a newly developed ELISA and me
asured serum levels of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in 44 patients wi
th untreated SCLC and 77 patients with untreated non-SCLC. We prospect
ively measured serum levels of Pro-GRP and NSE in SCLC patients after
initial treatment until relapse, The sensitivity (70%) and specificity
(91%) of Pro-GRP were similar to those of NSE (70 and 86%). Thirty-ni
ne % of patients who had a partial response still had elevated serum l
evels of Pro-GRP at the time of restaging after initial treatment. In
follow-up study, 94% of patients had elevated serum levels of Pro-GRP
again at the time of relapse, whereas 37% of patients showed elevated
levels of NSE, Levels of Pro-GRP increased a median of 35 (-95 to 151)
days before clinical evidence of relapse was detected with successive
physical examinations and imaging studies, whereas levels of NSE incr
eased 20 (-85 to 124) days after relapse was detected (P < 0.05), Pro-
GRP was helpful as a diagnostic aid and a marker for therapeutic effec
t and relapse in patients with SCLC, supplemented to serum NSE.