Serum AGR2 as a useful biomarker for pituitary adenomas

•The serum AGR2 level was higher in PA patients than that in normal control.•The serum AGR2 level was higher in PA patients than that with other sellar lesions.•There is no significant difference of AGR2 level in different PA subtypes.•The detection of serum AGR2 levels by ELISA has high diagnostic accuracy.•The larger the tumor size is, the lower the mean serum level of AGR2.

ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate whether the serum Anterior Gradient-2 (AGR2) can be used as a potential biomarker screening in the diagnosis of Pituitary adenomas(PAs).Patients and methodsThe serum AGR2 protein levels were preoperatively measured in 163 PA patients, 43 patients with other sellar lesions excluding PAs, 7 patients with prostate cancer as a positive control and 20 normal people(10 female and 10 male) using Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). Differences in the serum AGR2 level between different groups were analyzed for statistical significance with a Mann-Whitney U test.ResultsThe data showed that serum AGR2 level was significantly higher in the serum of PA patients (250.10 ± 79.14 ng/ml) than the patients with other sellar lesions (220.84 ± 79.62 ng/ml, P = 0.017) and normal people (163.67 ± 50.38 ng/ml, P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used. The detected area under the curve (AUC) was 0.835. The calculated optimal cut-off point for AGR2 level in serum samples was 158.63 ng/ml (Youden index = 0.564). The sensitivity was 91.4% and the specificity was 65.0%. Despite the variety of PA clinical features, the serum level of AGR2 are definite in PAs, although there may be a difference between male or female patients.ConclusionOur data suggests AGR2 as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of PAs.