Plasma thrombomodulin levels in lung cancer patients

Background. Thrombomodulin (TM) is a glycoprotein and besides its anticoagu lant property it is accepted as an once developmental antigen. Considering these properties we hypothesised that active TMB might have a role in cance r cell behaviour, Methods. We measured serum TMB levels by the enzyme immunoassay method in 4 0 patients with lung cancer and 20 healthy subjects. Results. TMB levels were found as 54.6+/-11.5 in controls and 60.9+/-31.2 n g/ml in lung cancer patients TM levels were 59.4+/-24.2 ng/ml in 24 epiderm oid carcinoma patients, 65+/-50.2 ng/ml in 10 small cell carcinoma patients and 60+/-18.4 ng/ml in 6 adenocarcinoma patients. Patients with stage 4 an d distant metastasis had a value of 65+/-33.9 ng/ml. No significant differe nces were found between healthy subjects and cancer patients. Also the diff erences between 3 groups of patients were insignificant, Conclusions. It was concluded that serum TMB levels could not be accepted a s a tumour marker in lung cancer patients.