Pretreatment Pokemon Level as a Predictor of Response to Cisplatin and Paclitaxel in Patients with Unresectable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

BACKGROUND

We firstly investigated the expression of Pokemon in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), then characterized the role of Pokemon in evaluating the response to combined cisplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy and prognosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this study, 61 patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC were treated with a combination chemotherapy comprising cisplatin and paclitaxel. The correlation between serum expression of Pokemon and effectiveness of chemotherapy was assessed.

RESULTS

The expression level of Pokemon in NSCLC patients was higher than that in healthy controls (p = 0.000), and was correlated with tumor size and TNM stage (p < 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard model demonstrated a poor response and shorter survival time in patients with pretreatment Pokemon levels in excess of 135.09 ng/ml compared to those with Pokemon levels below 135.09 ng/ml (p = 0.013). Pokemon ≥ 135.09 ng/ml was an independent risk factor for survival time in NSCLC patients undergoing combination chemotherapy (p = 0.018).

CONCLUSION

The serum level of Pokemon correlated with efficacy of cisplatin and paclitaxel combination chemotherapy and survival time, which indicated that Pokemon may be a potentially useful biomarker for predicting treatment effectiveness of first-line chemotherapy and prognosis in NSCLC.