Clinical usefulness of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) as a biomarker of acute pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer

Introduction: Increased concentrations of pentraxin 3 (PTX 3) were diagnosed in acute pancreatitis (AP) and in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Aim of the research: To assess of the clinical usefulness of PTX3 in the early differentiation of AP from PDAC. Material and methods: The test group consisted of 125 patients with AP and 24 people with PDAC, as well as 52 healthy subjects. The following concentrations were tested in plasma: PTX3, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL 6), and CA-19.9. Results: The mean PTX3 concentration in the moderately-severe AP (MAP) or severe AP (SAP) equalled 16.53 ng/ml and was significantly higher in comparison with mild AP (9.60 ng/m1; p = 0.0007) and the control group (2.31 ng/ml). In the case of patients with PDAC, the mean concentration of PTX3 was 9.20 ng/ml and was significantly higher than in the control group (2.31 ing/m1); p < 0.0001. A significantly higher average CRP value of 100.37 mg/land IL-6 91.65 pg/ml was also found in patients with PDAC compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). Tested pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher in patients with MAP or SAP than in those with PDAC (p < 0.05). The ROC curve confirms the clear connection of PTX3 level and PDAC in comparison with the control group (p = 0.0001), relatively low sensitivity, and high specificity. However, the results were not significant enough to allow us to differentiate cancer from AP (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Pentraxin 3 can be a marker in the prediction of the severe course of AP, but its clinical usefulness for the differentiation of PDAC was not confirmed.