Abstract
BACKGROUND: There were no specific indicators for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the diagnostic and prognostic value of CA19-9 plus B7-H4 detection in preoperative serum or surgical tissues of patients with pancreatic cancer. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-eight patients with pancreatic cancer and 25 controls were recruited. Their preoperative serum CA19-9 level was detected chemiluminescently, and B7-H4 expression in pancreatic cancer tissues was assessed immunohistochemically. The diagnostic and prognostic utility of detecting CA19-9, B7-H4 and their combination was evaluated. RESULTS: CA19-9 and B7-H4 levels were significantly upregulated in patients with pancreatic cancer compared with those in controls. The diagnostic value of combined CA19-9 plus B7-H4 detection was markedly better than that achieved from their separate detection analyzed with receiver operating characteristic curve. Sensitivity and specificity of the combined detection in the pancreatic cancer group was significantly increased compared with single detection. B7-H4 detection showed better prognostic value than detection of CA19-9. However, CA19-9 had high sensitivity and low specificity, while B7-H4 showed the opposite. The sensitivity of the combined prognosis was not significantly different to B7-H4 alone. CONCLUSION: The combined detection of CA19-9 and B7-H4 could become a new method for the clinical diagnosis and prognosis of pancreatic cancer.