Background: Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is a newly discovered biomarker for various inflammatory conditions. We measured plasma PTX3 levels in patients with febrile neutropenic lung cancer and examined the utility of PTX3 levels as a biomarker for febrile neutropenia.
Methods: Fourteen patients with febrile neutropenic lung cancer were enrolled in the study. In addition, 10 untreated lung cancer patients and 12 healthy adults were enrolled as a disease control group and a healthy control group, respectively. On the day of onset of febrile neutropenia (day 1) and days 3 and 7, PTX3 and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured. In the control groups, PTX3 and CRP levels were measured once.
Results: On day 1, plasma CRP levels in febrile neutropenia during chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for lung cancer (FN/LC) patients (8.11 ± 6.42 mg/dL) were significantly higher than those in healthy controls (HC) and chemotherapy/chemoradiotherapy-naïve lung cancer (CN/LC) patients (p < 0.05). However, CRP levels of the CN/LC group (0.33 ± 0.02 mg/dL) were also significantly higher than those of the HC group (0.07 ± 0.09 mg/dL) (p < 0.05). In contrast, plasma PTX3 levels of the FN/LC group (6.14 ± 5.28 ng/mL) were significantly higher than those of the HC and CN/LC groups on day 1 (p < 0.05), but PTX3 levels of the CN/LC group (1.60 ± 0.64 ng/mL) were not significantly higher than those of the HC group (1.05 ± 0.25 ng/mL). In the FN/LC group, PTX3 levels peaked immediately on day 1.
Conclusions: PTX3 may be a useful biomarker for diagnosis of FN in patients with LC.