Plasma adrenomedullin levels and nasopharyngeal carcinoma prognosis

• Plasma adrenomedullin level is enhanced in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
• Adrenomedullin is correlated with stage progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
• Adrenomedullin is associated with long-term survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
• Adrenomedullin is an independent prognostic predictor of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

BackgroundAdrenomedullin has been identified as a tumor growth factor. However, few studies have reported its relationship with cancer survival. We evaluated the prognostic value of pretreatment plasma adrenomedullin levels in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).MethodsPlasma adrenomedullin levels of 258 NPC patients and 100 healthy controls were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Adverse event was defined as tumor progression or death from any cause during 5-year follow-up. The relationships between plasma adrenomedullin levels and 5-year mortality, adverse event, tumor-free survival and overall survival were evaluated using multivariate analysis.ResultsPretreatment plasma adrenomedullin levels were substantially higher in patients than in healthy subjects and were correlated highly with tumor classification, lymph node classification and tumor node metastasis stage positively. Adrenomedullin was identified as an independent predictor of 5-year mortality, adverse event, tumor-free survival and overall survival. Based on receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, pretreatment plasma adrenomedullin level had high predictive value for 5-year mortality and adverse event and had high diagnostic value for NPC.ConclusionsAdrenomedullin may be a reliable biomarker for predicting the long-term prognosis of patients with NPC and also has potential diagnostic utility for NPC.