Prognostic potential of the preoperative plasma complement factor B in resected pancreatic cancer: A pilot study

BACKGROUND: For patients with pancreatic cancer, a preoperative assessment of prognosis is crucial to predict cancer recurrence and to prepare a postoperative adjuvant strategy and appropriate patient-counsel. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the prognostic predictive power of complement factor B (CFB) by comparing it to that of other known tumor markers in resected pancreatic cancer patients. METHODS: From 2012 to 2013 period, we retrospectively reviewed the plasma CFB levels of 35 pancreatic cancer patients. The patients were divided into two groups according to serologic CFB values. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were analyzed. RESULTS: Based on the cut-off values of plasma CFB, 15 patients were placed in the low CFB group and the other 20 patients were placed in the high CFB group. There was a significant difference in DFS between the two groups (Low CFB vs. High CFB: 36.9 months vs. 13.9 months, p : 0.007). In the OS analysis, there was also a significant difference in the survival rates of the two groups (Low CFB vs. High CFB: 49.7 months vs. 29.0 months, p : 0.048). CONCLUSION: Preoperative plasma CFB can be used to predict the prognosis of resectable pancreatic cancers; it outperforms both CA 19-9 and CEA.