PURPOSE: Antitumour treatments are thought to exert their therapeutic efficacy mainly by induction of apoptosis in tumour cells. In epithelial cells, caspases, the key enzymes of apoptosis, cleave the intermediate filament protein cytokeratin (CK)-18 into specific fragments that are released into circulating blood and can be detected by a specific ELISA. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To investigate the use of CK-18 fragments as a potential biomarker for the treatment response, we examined the association of serum CK-18 levels and clinical response in 35 patients with gastrointestinal cancers. RESULTS: While both cleaved and total CK-18 levels were intrinsically elevated in tumour patients, they were further increased during 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based therapy. Importantly, the increased levels of CK-18 could discriminate between patients with different clinical response. Cancer patients with a partial response or stable disease revealed a significantly higher increase of cleaved CK-18 during chemotherapy as compared to patients with progressive disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that detection of circulating caspase-cleaved CK-18 might be a useful serum biomarker for monitoring treatment response and should merit further evaluation in larger patient groups. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PURPOSE: Antitumour treatments are thought to exert their therapeutic efficacy mainly by induction of apoptosis in tumour cells. In epithelial cells, caspases, the key enzymes of apoptosis, cleave the intermediate filament protein cytokeratin (CK)-18 into specific fragments that are released into circulating blood and can be detected by a specific ELISA. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: To investigate the use of CK-18 fragments as a potential biomarker for the treatment response, we examined the association of serum CK-18 levels and clinical response in 35 patients with gastrointestinal cancers. RESULTS: While both cleaved and total CK-18 levels were intrinsically elevated in tumourpatients, they were further increased during 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-based therapy. Importantly, the increased levels of CK-18 could discriminate between patients with different clinical response. Cancerpatients with a partial response or stable disease revealed a significantly higher increase of cleaved CK-18 during chemotherapy as compared to patients with progressive disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that detection of circulating caspase-cleaved CK-18 might be a useful serum biomarker for monitoring treatment response and should merit further evaluation in larger patient groups. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors: Khaleel R Fareed; Irshad N Soomro; Khalid Hameed; Arvind Arora; Dileep N Lobo; Simon L Parsons; Srinivasan Madhusudan Journal: World J Gastroenterol Date: 2012-04-28 Impact factor: 5.742
Authors: A Greystoke; E Dean; M P Saunders; J Cummings; A Hughes; M Ranson; C Dive; A G Renehan Journal: Br J Cancer Date: 2012-09-20 Impact factor: 7.640
Authors: Jeffrey J Dunmire; Rachida Bouhenni; Michael L Hart; Bassam T Wakim; Anthony M Chomyk; Sarah E Scott; Hiroshi Nakamura; Deepak P Edward Journal: Mol Vis Date: 2011-03-23 Impact factor: 2.367