Serum AGR2 as a useful biomarker for pituitary adenomas

Abstract

Objective: This 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 methods: The 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.

Results: The data showed that serum AGR2 level was significantly higher in the serum of PA patients (250.10±79.14ng/ml) than the patients with other sellar lesions (220.84±79.62ng/ml, P=0.017) and normal people (163.67±50.38ng/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 158.63ng/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.

Conclusion: Our data suggests AGR2 as a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of PAs.

Keywords: Anterior gradient 2; Diagnosis; Pituitary adenoma; Serum biomarker.