Department of Biophysics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, India.
Clin Chim Acta. 2012 Jan 18;413(1-2):219-25. doi: 10.1016/j.cca.2011.09.031. Epub 2011 Oct 1.
Translation of early findings from basic research is aimed to benefit cancer therapeutics. We report the p38α level in serum of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients indicating it as a prognostic marker and established its correlation with radiation therapy (RT).
The case-controlled study was performed on 120 HNSCC patients from whom 81 patients and 45 controls were statistically analyzed. The p38α estimation was done at pre-RT, during-RT and post-RT using a real time Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technology, ELISA and western blot.
HNSCC patients showed threefold increase in p38α level when compared to control (p value<0.0001). The estimated concentration of p38α in a temporal manner, before-RT, during-RT and post-RT was 0.61 ng/μl (95%CI: 0.53-0.69), 0.35 ng/μl (95%CI: 0.31-0.38) and 0.30 ng/μl (95%CI: 0.26-0.33), respectively. Among the 81 cases, 70 patients (86.42%) showed a declined p38α in response to RT as evaluated by SPR and were responding clinically (clinical tumor regression).
This study showed elevated p38α level at cancer diagnosis and a statistically significant decline during-RT and post-RT periods. Hence, it can emerge as a prognostic marker supporting the candidature of p38α as a suitable serum marker in HNSCC.
将基础研究的早期发现转化为癌症治疗的目标是为了使癌症治疗受益。我们报告了头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）患者血清中的 p38α 水平，将其作为一个预后标志物，并确定了其与放射治疗（RT）的相关性。
对 120 例 HNSCC 患者进行了病例对照研究，其中 81 例患者和 45 例对照进行了统计学分析。使用实时表面等离子体共振（SPR）技术、ELISA 和 Western blot 在 RT 前、RT 期间和 RT 后对 p38α 进行评估。
与对照组相比，HNSCC 患者的 p38α 水平增加了三倍（p 值<0.0001）。在时间上估计的 p38α浓度分别为 RT 前 0.61ng/μl（95%CI：0.53-0.69）、RT 期间 0.35ng/μl（95%CI：0.31-0.38）和 RT 后 0.30ng/μl（95%CI：0.26-0.33）。在 81 例患者中，70 例（86.42%）的患者 p38α 对 RT 有反应，SPR 评估和临床评估均显示肿瘤有消退。
本研究显示，癌症诊断时 p38α 水平升高，RT 期间和 RT 后呈统计学显著下降。因此，它可以成为一个预后标志物，支持 p38α 作为 HNSCC 合适的血清标志物的候选者。
