Aspects on reference values for tumor markers in human prostatic carcinoma

Pan-Cancer Analyses Reveal Prognostic Value of Osteomimicry Across 20 Solid Cancer Types

Background

Osteomimicry of cancer cells had been widely reported in prostate cancer and breast cancer. However, the prognostic value of osteomimicry in various cancer types remained unclear. We hypothesized that osteomimicry would result in remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and was eligible to predict patient prognosis.

Methods

A comprehensive transcriptomic analysis of the osteomimicry, which was characterized by mRNA expression of SPARC, SPP1, and BGLAP, across 20 solid tumors (7564 patients) using RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) was conducted. Samples of each cancer type were classified into subgroups (high vs. low) based on median value of osteomimetic markers, the associations of these markers with clinical outcomes, immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoints expression were explored.

Results

Each osteomimetic marker harbored prognostic value in the pan-cancer analyses [SPARC: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.10, p = 0.028; SPP1: HR = 1.25, p < 0.001; BGLAP: HR = 1.13, p = 0.005]. Patients with high expression of all the three genes also had significantly unfavorable survival (HR = 1.61, p < 0.0001) compared with those of low expression. Correlation analyses demonstrated that osteomimicry was closely related to tumor purity, dendritic cells (DC) infiltration and expression of immune checkpoints.

Conclusion

Osteomimicry had prognostic value in various cancer types and the underlying mechanism might correlate to the trapping and dysfunction of DCs in the tumor microenvironment, revealing the potential of osteomimicry as a target of immunotherapy.

Tumour markers as prognostic aids in prostatic carcinoma

Of 102 patients suffering from prostatic carcinoma, complete data on the serum concentration of 7 tumour markers were available from 90 patients, together with tumour grade, local stage and the presence or absence of skeletal metastases. The serum content of prostatic acid phosphatase, prostate specific antigen, neopterin, thymidine kinase, osteocalcin, C-reactive protein and tissue polypeptide antigen was measured. By means of Cox's regression and multivariate analysis the ability of these variables to predict prognosis, i.e. death from prostatic cancer, was studied. Neopterin appeared to be the most efficient marker, followed by tumour grade, thymidine kinase and prostate specific antigen. No other variable provided information of statistical significance. In multivariate analysis thymidine kinase performed best, followed by neopterin, tumour grade and prostate specific antigen. Several serum tumour markers reflect the biological activity of human prostate cancers and their value should be further explored. They may become useful in the management of individual patients.