Importance of serum levels of angiopoietin-2 and survivin biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer

BackgroundAngiogenesis is an essential process in cancer growth maintenance, and metastasis. Angiopoietin-2 promotes tumor angiogenesis by priming the vasculature and potentiating the effects of cytokines at the front of active neovascularization. Enhanced expression of angiopoietin-2 has been reported in lung cancer tissue. Survivin is one of the inhibitors of apoptosis protein that has been shown to play a key role in cancer progression, and in tumor angiogenesis. Also plays a key role in tumor cell resistance to anticancer agents and ionizing radiation.AimTo measure the serum levels of angiopoietin-2 and survivin as possible angiogenic factors in lung cancer patients with the assessment of their interrelationships and clinical significance.Patients and methodsPatients with lung cancer as NSCLC (n = 70) and healthy volunteers (n = 10) were enrolled. Serum angiopoietin-2 and survivin concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA).ResultsMedian serum angiopoietin-2 levels with lung cancer (2730 pg/mL) ranged from 1171 to 6541 pg/mL was higher than the median of the control group (1795 pg/mL) ranged from 1076 to 2730/mL, p < 0.001. Median serum survivin levels were also higher in patients with lung cancer (53.0 pg/mL) ranged from 39.3 to 96.3 pg/mL than the median of the control group (48.8 pg/mL) ranged from 38.0 to 74.6 pg/mL, but did not reach statistical significance p = 0.206.In all patients with lung cancer, serum angiopoietin-2 was not significantly correlated with survivin (r = 0.073, p = 0.657). Neither serum angiopoietin-2 nor survivin showed significant relation with the serum angiopoietin-2 or survivin levels depending on the cell types, stage progression, and metastasis among the patients with NSCLC.ConclusionsOur study suggests that serum angiopoietin-2 is a useful marker for the diagnosis of NSCLC by ELIZA technique.