Cellular adhesion molecules might be good markers in some types of malignant
tumors and provide useful information in diagnosis and prognosis. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical significance of the serum levels of
vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in
lung cancer patients treated with
platinum-based
chemotherapy. One hundred and thirty
lung cancer patients were enrolled into this study. Serum
VCAM-1 levels were determined by the solid-phase sandwich ELISA method. Age- and sex-matched 34 healthy controls were included in the analysis. Median age was 58 years old, range 35 to 80 years. The majority of the patients had
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (83.8 %) and stage IV disease (60.8 %). The patients' baseline serum
VCAM-1 levels were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group (p = 0.02). Male patients had higher serum
VCAM-1 level compared with female patients (p = 0.04). The stage of disease and
tumor histology were not correlated with serum
VCAM-1 assay (p > 0.05). Elevated serum
VCAM-1 levels were associated with
chemotherapy unresponsive patients compared with responsive patients (p = 0.02). The patients with elevated serum
VCAM-1 levels had lower survival rates than the ones with lower levels (1-year survival rate 57.6 vs 69.7 %, respectively, p = 0.04). In conclusion, serum
VCAM-1 concentrations may have diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic role in
lung cancer patients treated with
platinum-based
chemotherapy.