The usefulness of biomarkers in diagnosis of asbestos-induced malignant pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of The usefulness of biomarkers in diagnosis of asbestos-induced malignant pleural mesothelioma, by Z. Tanrıverdi, F. Meteroglu, H. Yüce, et al (Human & Experimental Toxicology, 2021).

The study

• Authors: Z. Tanrıverdi, F. Meteroglu, H. Yüce, A. Şenyiğit, M. Işcan, S. Unüvar
• Journal: Human & Experimental Toxicology
• Published: 2021;40(11):1817-1824
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Introduction: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a malignant tumor that is associated mostly with asbestos exposure. The present study was to evaluates the diagnostic value of neopterin, periostin, YKL-40, Tenascin-C (TNC), and Indolamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) as noninvasive markers of malign pleural mesothelioma.

Methods: Included in the study were 30 patients diagnosed with malign pleural mesothelioma, and 25 people as a control group. Biomarker levels were determined using an enzyme immunoassay . A Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman correlation methods were used for the statistical analysis.

Results: All evaluated biomarkers were found to be significantly higher in the MPM group than in the control group (p < 0.05). There was no effect of such variables as gender, age or MPMsubtype on the parameters (p > 0.05) in the patient group. All biomarkers were positively correlated with each other (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The current non-invasive biomarkers that can be used in the diagnosis of MPM yielded significant results and can make important contributions to the early diagnosis of MPM.

In plain English

This prospective cross-sectional study ran from November 2018 to April 2019 at the chest diseases and thoracic surgery outpatient clinic of Dicle University in Turkey. The authors measured five blood markers (neopterin, periostin, YKL-40, tenascin-C, and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, or IDO) in 30 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (19 men, 11 women) and in 25 cancer-free people. All the patients had grown up in an area with known asbestos content and were described as exposed to asbestos from birth. The article does not name a fiber type. All five markers were significantly higher in the patients than in the controls. Within the patient group, levels did not differ significantly by sex, age group or tumor subtype, and only IDO differed by smoking. The five markers were positively correlated with each other and with age. The controls were younger on average (mean age 38.6) than the patients (mean age 59.5). The authors concluded that these markers can make important contributions to the early diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Prospective cross-sectional study comparing blood biomarker levels between patients and cancer-free controls
• Who was studied: 30 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (19 male, 11 female) and 25 cancer-free controls, seen at Dicle University, Turkey, November 2018 to April 2019
• Exposure: Environmental asbestos exposure from birth: all patients grew up in an area with known asbestos content. No fiber type or dose is given.
• Main results:
  • Serum neopterin was higher in the mesothelioma group (mean 7.6, SD 8.5 nM) than in controls (mean 1.8, SD 5.0 nM), p = 0.004
  • Serum periostin was higher in the mesothelioma group (mean 30.7, SD 31.4 ng/mL) than in controls (mean 3.9, SD 3.4 ng/mL), p less than 0.001
  • Serum tenascin-C was higher in the mesothelioma group (mean 1.00, SD 1.12 ng/L) than in controls (mean 0.19, SD 0.13 ng/L), p = 0.017
  • Serum YKL-40 was higher in the mesothelioma group (mean 50.5, SD 51.4 nM) than in controls (mean 23.9, SD 59.4 nM), p less than 0.001
  • Serum IDO was higher in the mesothelioma group (mean 37.4, SD 42.1 ng/mL) than in controls (mean 5.54, SD 5.33 ng/mL), p less than 0.001
  • Within the patient group, no marker differed significantly by sex, by age group (60 or younger versus over 60), or by histological subtype (26 epithelial, 4 biphasic); p greater than 0.05
  • Within the patient group, only IDO differed by smoking status (mean rank 10.13 in non-smokers versus 17.45 in smokers, p = 0.044). The other four markers did not differ significantly.
  • All five markers were positively correlated with each other (Spearman rho from 0.461 to 0.813, all p less than 0.001) and with age (rho from 0.426 to 0.544)
  • The control group was younger than the patient group: mean age 38.6 (SD 5.2, range 30 to 49) for controls versus 59.5 (SD 10.6, range 35 to 76) for patients
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that these non-invasive biomarkers yielded significant results and can make important contributions to the early diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Biomarker, Pleural Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• High BIN1 expression has a favorable prognosis in malignant pleural mesothelioma and is associated with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes — T. Ahmadzada, K. Lee, et al. (2019)
• Tenascin XB Is a Novel Diagnostic Marker for Malignant Mesothelioma — K. Nakayama, M. Seike, et al. (2019)
• Indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase elevated in tumor-initiating cells is suppressed by mitocans — M. Stapelberg, R. Zobalova, et al. (2014)
• Glycoprotein YKL-40 Levels in Plasma Are Associated with Fibrotic Changes on HRCT in Asbestos-Exposed Subjects — T. Väänänen, L. Lehtimäki, et al. (2017)
• Tenascin expression and distribution in pleural inflammatory and fibrotic diseases — R. Kaarteenaho-Wiik, E. Lakari, et al. (2000)
• Tenascin and fibronectin expression in human mesothelial cells and pleural mesothelioma cell-line cells — V.L. Kinnula, A. Linnala, et al. (1998)

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