Serum fibronectin levels in malignant and benign endometrial diseases.

Abstract

Introduction: Endometrial cancer is currently the most common malignancy of the female reproductive system. The significance of the disease is determined by the search for additional biomarkers with the aim to optimize earlier diagnosis and to help for timely treatment. The objective of this study was to assess the serum levels of fibronectin (FN) in patients with malignant endometrial pathology and to compare them with patients with benign pathology and healthy women.

Material and methods: We analyzed serum FN levels in women with malignant and benign pathology of the endometrium. Blood serum samples were collected from 100 patients - 50 diagnosed with endometrial cancer and 50 with confirmed endometrial polyps. In addition, 50 control subjects were tested. Fibronectin levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) according to the protocol.

Results: Statistical analysis was performed and the results demonstrated statistical significances (p = 0.008) of FN levels in the group with endometrial cancer (mean 482.73, median 409.12 µg/ml) compared to the control group (mean 346.86, median 258.87 µg/ml), but no significant difference in FN levels was observed between the group with endometrial malignancy and the group with benign pathology of the endometrium. In addition, in the cancer group FN levels did not show any significant differences depending on the histologic type.

Conclusions: The serum FN concentration can be used as an additional tumor marker for gynecological malignancies and can be a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for malignant endometrial pathology as well as for other gynecological malignancies.