Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China.
Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2018 Mar 1;50(3):307-312. doi: 10.1093/abbs/gmx147.
Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) play an important role in cancer development. Previous studies showed that serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels and the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) in the peripheral blood are both involved in tumor neoangiogenesis, and can be used for monitoring tumor progression, recurrence, metastasis, and therapeutic responses. However, the clinical relevance of these biomarkers remains unknown. In this study, 40 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and 17 healthy volunteers were recruited and the amount of cEPCs in the peripheral blood was measured by flow cytometry. The serum CEA level was determined by CEA-RIACT assay. Results showed that cEPC level positively correlated with the stage of the disease, but not with the age and gender of the patients. Moreover, patients with higher serum CEA levels had higher cEPC levels. These results provide clinical evidence for a correlation between two commonly used biomarkers. Further understanding the role of serum CEA in cEPC-mediated tumor vascularization may improve clinical CRC diagnosis and provide useful insights into the design of therapeutic interventions that target tumor vasculature.
循环内皮祖细胞 (cEPCs) 在癌症发展中起着重要作用。先前的研究表明，血清癌胚抗原 (CEA) 水平和外周血中循环内皮祖细胞 (cEPCs) 的数量都与肿瘤新生血管生成有关，可用于监测肿瘤的进展、复发、转移和治疗反应。然而，这些生物标志物的临床相关性尚不清楚。在这项研究中，招募了 40 名结直肠癌 (CRC) 患者和 17 名健康志愿者，并通过流式细胞术测量外周血中的 cEPC 数量。通过 CEA-RIACT 测定法测定血清 CEA 水平。结果表明，cEPC 水平与疾病分期呈正相关，但与患者的年龄和性别无关。此外，血清 CEA 水平较高的患者 cEPC 水平也较高。这些结果为两种常用生物标志物之间的相关性提供了临床证据。进一步了解血清 CEA 在 cEPC 介导的肿瘤血管生成中的作用，可能有助于改善 CRC 的临床诊断，并为靶向肿瘤血管的治疗干预措施的设计提供有用的见解。
