Comparison of the Diagnostic Performance of Fibulin-3 and Mesothelin in Patients with Pleural Effusions from Malignant Mesothelioma

• Published in: Anticancer research 2017-03, Vol.37 (3), p.1387-1392
• Main Authors: Battolla, Enrico, Canessa, Pier Aldo, Ferro, Paola, Franceschini, Maria Cristiana, Fontana, Vincenzo, Dessanti, Paolo, Pinelli, Valentina, Morabito, Anna, Fedeli, Franco, Pistillo, Maria Pia, Roncella, Silvio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biomarkers, Tumor - metabolism; Cohort Studies; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Extracellular Matrix Proteins - metabolism; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Italy; Lung Neoplasms - metabolism; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; Male; Mesothelioma - metabolism; Mesothelioma - pathology; Mesothelioma, Malignant; Middle Aged; Multidrug Resistance-Associated Proteins - metabolism; Pleural Effusion, Malignant - metabolism; Pleural Effusion, Malignant - pathology; Pleural Neoplasms - metabolism; Pleural Neoplasms - pathology; ROC Curve
• ISSN: 0250-7005; 1791-7530
• DOI: 10.21873/anticanres.11460

In the literature, there exist conflicting data on the value of fibulin-3 (FBLN3) for the diagnosis of pleural effusion (PE) in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Therefore we compared the diagnostic performance of FBLN3 against that of soluble mesothelin-related peptide (SMRP) in a cohort of Italian patients. FBLN3 and SMRP were detected in PE from 33 patients with MPM, 64 with pleural benign lesions and 23 with non-MPM pleural metastases using a commercial enzyme-linked-immunosorbent(ELISA)-assay kit according to manufacturers' instructions. Levels of FBLN3 were similar in PE from MPM and PE from other pathologies (geometric mean=68.1 vs. 66.2 ng/ml; p=0.872) in contrast to SMRP levels, which were significantly higher in PE from MPM (geometric mean=14.6 vs. 3.2 nM; p