CIRCULATING MONOCYTE CHEMOATTRACTANT PROTEIN-1 (MCP-1/CCL-2) AS A POTENTIAL BIOMARKER FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF PANCREATIC ADENOCARCINOMA

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal malignancy. Chemokines may control the macrophage infiltrate found in many solid tumors. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) plays a key role in the recruitment and activation of monocytes during inflammation. MCP-1 is a small chemotactic protein that has been found in several kinds of tumor tissue samples and functions as a key regulator of cancer progression. This study was conducted to investigate the serum levels of MCP-1 in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) and the relationship with tumor progression and known prognostic parameters. Materials and methods: Thirty-five patients with PA were investigated. Serum samples were obtained on first admission before any treatment. Both serum MCP-1 levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Age and sex matched 32 healthy controls were included in the analysis. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 61 years, range 38-84 years; 21 patients were men. The tumor was located in the head of the pancreas in 24 (69%) patients. The most common metastatic site was liver in 20 patients with metastasis (n= 18, 90%). Forty-four percent of 18 metastatic patients who received palliative chemotherapy (CTx) were CTx-responsive. The median follow-up time was 24 weeks (range: 1-191 weeks). At the end of the observation period, twelve (34%) patients experienced disease progression and twenty-three patients (66%) were dead. Median progression-free survival and overall survival of the whole group were 13.7 +/- 2.3 weeks (95% confidence interval (CI) = 9-18 weeks) and 48.0 +/- 12.8 weeks (95% CI = 23-73 weeks), respectively. The baseline serum MCP-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with PA than in the control group (p=0.02). Moreover, serum MCP-1 levels were significantly higher in the patients with low albumin ant platelet levels (p=0.04 and p=0.05, respectively). However, serum MCP-1 assays had no prognostic roles on outcome. Conclusion: MCP-1 is an auspicious biomarker which plays a functional role in PA. Although serum levels of MCP-1 were found to have diagnostic value, no predictive and prognostic value was determined in PA patients.