[Significance of concentration of serum soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in epithelial ovarian carcinoma].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: It was reported that vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) was highly expressed in ovarian carcinoma samples. The latest research showed that the concentration of serum soluble VCAM-1 (sVCAM-1) was increased in the patients with various tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the biological effects of sVCAM-1 on epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

METHODS

The concentration of serum sVCAM-1 was assayed in 130 normal cases, 50 benign ovarian tumors, and 67 epithelial ovarian carcinoma cases using enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay(ELISA).

RESULTS

The serum sVCAM-1 level in epithelial ovarian carcinoma[(897+/-54) g/L,83.6%] was higher than those in benign ovarian tumor [(435+/-43) g/L, 8.0%] and normal cases [(420+/-40) microg/L,6.2%] (P< 0.01), while the former dropped post-operation [(532+/-46) microg/L,37.3%]. The serum sVCAM-1 levels in stage II-IV [(899+/-71) microg/L,93.3%], grade III [(982+/-66) microg/L,94.8%], and the cases combined with lymphatic metastasis [(895+/-58) microg/L,95.1%] were higher than those in stage I[(571+/-49) microg/L,63.6%], grade I [(641+/-51)microg/L,69.2%], grade II[(768+/-47)microg/L,66.7%], and the cases without lymphatic metastasis[(728+/-47) microg/L,65.4%](P< 0.05, P< 0.01, and P< 0.01, respectively); while no correlation was found between serum sVCAM-1 levels and histological types (P >0.5). No correlation was found between concentration of sVCAM-1 and prognosis by multiple factor analysis.

CONCLUSION

Dynamically monitoring the concentration of serum sVCAM-1 will hopefully become an index for early diagnosis and supervising the recurrence of epithelial ovarian carcinoma.