Park Se Jung, Kim Tae Soo, Park Kyu Hyun, Kwon Woo Sun, Kim Jin Ju
Song Dang Institute for Cancer Research, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea.
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Inha University College of Medicine, Incheon 22332, Republic of Korea.
Oncol Lett. 2020 Jul;20(1):364-372. doi: 10.3892/ol.2020.11549. Epub 2020 Apr 21.
The objective of the present study was to compare sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels according to sex (healthy male and female volunteers) and age to determine reference values. Serum SHBG expression levels in patients with breast cancer with different tumor burden states were also determined. A total of 109 samples were obtained from 34 patients in 3 different disease states (non-tumor, localized tumor and systemic metastasis) during follow-up. A sandwich ELISA was conducted to measure SHBG, cancer antigen (CA)15-3 and CA125 expression levels. Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were performed on non-normally distributed data and an unpaired t-test was used for normally distributed variables. SHBG expression levels were higher in females compared with males (P<0.0001). When SHBG expression levels were compared by sex, the difference was maintained in the age groups <30, 30-39 and ≥50 years, but not in the 40-49 years group. In males, SHBG expression levels increased until the age of 49 and then decreased (P=0.01). In females, SHBG expression levels exhibited a decreased trend until the age of 49 (P=0.66). In patients with breast cancer, the SHBG expression levels revealed a decreasing trend after the age of 50, which was different compared with the healthy females. There was a decreasing trend of SHBG expression levels from pre-menopause to post-menopause healthy volunteers (P=0.74). CA15-3 (r=0.07; P=0.59) and CA 125 (r=-0.18; P=0.17) levels did not exhibit any significant correlation with SHBG expression levels. There was a significant difference in the SHBG expression levels between male and female healthy volunteers. SHBG expression levels also revealed different patterns between healthy female volunteers and female patients with breast cancer ≥50 years of age. The present study demonstrated that SHBG does not have value as a biomarker, but different reference values according to age and sex may aid in predicting high-risk groups for hormone-dependent cancer and guide treatment direction for post-menopausal breast cancer.
本研究的目的是根据性别（健康男性和女性志愿者）和年龄比较性激素结合球蛋白（SHBG）水平，以确定参考值。还测定了不同肿瘤负荷状态的乳腺癌患者血清SHBG表达水平。在随访期间，从处于3种不同疾病状态（无肿瘤、局部肿瘤和全身转移）的34例患者中总共获得了109份样本。采用夹心酶联免疫吸附测定法检测SHBG、癌抗原（CA）15-3和CA125的表达水平。对非正态分布数据进行Wilcoxon秩和检验，对正态分布变量采用不成对t检验。女性的SHBG表达水平高于男性（P<0.0001）。按性别比较SHBG表达水平时，年龄<30岁、30-39岁和≥50岁组差异持续存在，但40-49岁组无差异。在男性中，SHBG表达水平在49岁之前升高，之后下降（P=0.01）。在女性中，SHBG表达水平在49岁之前呈下降趋势（P=0.66）。在乳腺癌患者中，SHBG表达水平在50岁之后呈下降趋势，这与健康女性不同。从绝经前到绝经后健康志愿者，SHBG表达水平呈下降趋势（P=0.74）。CA15-3（r=0.07；P=0.59）和CA125（r=-0.18；P=0.17）水平与SHBG表达水平无显著相关性。健康男性和女性志愿者的SHBG表达水平存在显著差异。健康女性志愿者与≥50岁乳腺癌女性患者的SHBG表达水平也呈现不同模式。本研究表明，SHBG作为生物标志物没有价值，但根据年龄和性别确定的不同参考值可能有助于预测激素依赖性癌症的高危人群，并指导绝经后乳腺癌的治疗方向。
