Clinical Significance of Serum TSGF in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objective To determine the correlation between the level of serum tumor supplies group of factors (TSGF)and clinicopathologic features in patient with nasopharynegal carcinoma(NPC).Methods TSGF was measured by spectrophotometry in 134 healthy controls and 322 patients with NPC(179 initiated tumors,59 recurrent tumors and 84 after treatment).Results The TSGF level( ±s ) was(54.5±5.2) U/ml for healthy control,(65.2±12.1) U/ml for initiated tumor,and(72.9±12.4) U/ml for recurrent tumor,there were significant differences among these values( P 0.01),Profoundly differences were observed when patients were categorized with distant metastasis( P 0.01) and TNM stage( P 0.05).At the mean level of healthy subjects(55 U/ml),TSGF indicated a NPC with a specificity of 56.7%,a sensitivity of 81.0%,a positive predictive value of 71.4%,and a negative predictive value of 80.5%.At mean concentration of the distant metastasis free group(62 U/ml),determination of TSGF was able to exclude distant metastasis with a negative predictive value of 96.1%,a sensitivity of 93.9%,and a specificity of 48.4%.The patients who achived a partial or complete response to chemoradiotherapy had significantly less TSGF compared with the nonresponders( P 0.01).Conclusion A high level of TSGF is associated with tumor progression,poor treatment response,and especially distant metastasis in patients with NPC.