MIC1/GDF15 as a Bone Metastatic Disease Biomarker

Anticancer Res. 2017 Mar;37(3):1501-1505. doi: 10.21873/anticanres.11477.

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate MIC1/GDF15 as a biomarker in the monitoring of bone metastases occurrence.

Patients and methods: The assessed group included patients diagnosed with: prostate cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Patients were divided into two groups based on the scintigraphy of the occurrence of bone metastases. Group 0 contained 55 patients without bone metastases, that served as the control group. Group 1 contained 75 patients with bone metastases.

Results: Higher levels (p<0.0001) of MIC1/GDF15 were found in group 1 (with bone metastases) compared to the group 0. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed an area under the curve (AUC) 0.87. At the point of 90% specificity we found a 65% sensitivity and cut-off value of 1.48 ng/ml.

Conclusion: Circulating MIC1/GDF15 is a powerful biomarker for bone metastatic disease but insufficient sensitivity calls for further studies incorporating combinations with other novel or routine markers.

Keywords: MIC1/GDF15; biomarkers; bone metastasis; cancer; scintigraphy.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Area Under Curve
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Bone Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Bone Neoplasms / secondary*
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Colorectal Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Colorectal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Growth Differentiation Factor 15 / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Lung Neoplasms / pathology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / pathology
  • ROC Curve
  • Radionuclide Imaging
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • GDF15 protein, human
  • Growth Differentiation Factor 15