Evaluation of nucleolin, nucleophosmin, PTN levels in patients with non small cell cancer

Objective: Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths all over the world. Approximately 85% of lung cancers are non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC). In this study, the usability of serum pleitropin (PTN), nucleolin (NCL), nucleophosmin (NPM) levels as markers in the diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of lung cancer, determination of prognosis and evaluation of treatment response was investigated. Material and Methods: 34 patients with a diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer whose diagnosis was histopathologically confirmed and 35 patients who were admitted to the Internal Diseases outpatient clinic without any malignancy diagnosis; NCL, NPM, PTN levels were studied by ELISA method from serum samples of patients with lung cancer before and after 3-4 cycles of chemotherapy and control group. The results were evaluated with the SPSS v.22 package program, and the significance level was accepted as 0.05. Results: 97% of the patients were male and 3% were female. The average age was 63.9 years. While 56% of the patients were diagnosed with squamous cell carinoma, 44% were diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and 53% were stage 3 and 47% were stage 4. The median overall survival of the patients was 13,7 ± 8,1 months, and the median PS duration was 9,3 ± 4.9 months. Serum NCL, NPM, PTN levels were found to be significantly higher in the patient group. According to histopathological type, molecules levels were found to be adenocarsinoma significantly higher than squamous cell carcinoma. When the treatment responses of chemotherapeutic agents were examined, there was a difference between the values before and after chemotherapy, but statistical significance could not be reached. In the patient group subgroup analyzes, no statistical significance was found in serum NCL, NPM, PTN levels. Conclusion: Our study is the first study investigating serum NCL and NPM levels in NSCLC patients. High serum NCL, NPM, and PTN levels were found to be associated with poor prognosis, poor treatment response and low survival. Evaluation of serum NCL, NPM, and PTN levels in patients with lung cancer will reduce the workforce loss of healthcare professionals, decrease the frequency of imaging, may be an indicator of prognosis, and change the treatment. We think that it can be a guiding marker that can help the clinician about or its continuation. Key words; lung, cancer, nucleolin, nucleofosmin, pleotrofin