Clinical significance of serum epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM) levels in patients with lung cancer

Cellular adhesion molecules might be good markers in some types of malignant tumors, thus providing useful information in diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EPCAM) in lung cancer patients. One hundred and thirty lung cancer patients were enrolled in this study. Serum EPCAM levels were determined by the solid-phase sandwich ELISA method. Age- and sex-matched 34 healthy controls were included in the analysis. The median age was 58 years, ranging 35-80 years. The majority of the patients had NSCLC (83.8 %) and stage IV disease (60.8 %). There was no significant difference in the serum EPCAM levels between lung cancer patients and healthy controls (p = 0.16). Moreover, known clinical variables including age of patient, gender, histology, stage of disease, and response to chemotherapy were not found to be correlated with serum EPCAM concentrations (p > 0.05). Similarly, no prognostic role was found for outcome (1-year survival rate 62 vs. 65.1 %, p = 0.89). In conclusion, serum EPCAM concentrations have no diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic roles in lung cancer patients.