Clinical evaluation on the determination of plasma lysophosphatidic acid concentration in Chinese human pancreatic cancer

Aims: Observing the alteration of plasma Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) concentration in patients with pancreatic cancer and evaluating its clinical potential for diagnosis. Methods: We examined the plasma LPA concentrations by using a LPA assay kit and related parameters of CA19­9, AFP and CEA were measured in 50 patients with pancreatic cancer, 32 patients with benign pancreatic lesions and 36 healthy check­ up volunteers. Findings were analyzed and correlation with pathological changes. Results: The LPA concentration was significantly higher in pancreatic cancer patients (4.10±2.03 µmol/L) than in patients with benign lesions (3.28±1.26µmol/L) and healthy controls (2.27±1.02 µmol/L) (p < 0.05). Plasma LPA concentration correlated with serum CA19­9 level (r = 0.9070) in patients with pancreatic cancer. For diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, the sensitivity of LPA was 89.6% and the specificity 79. 4%, while the sensitivity of CA19­9 was 91.8% and specificity 84.8%. Statistical analysis showed no difference between the plasma LPA concentration and serum CA19­9 activity. However, alteration of plasma LPA has shown significant correlations with the tumor size, pathological classification, pathological stage, infiltration of capsule cells, surrounding lymph nodes and specific histopathological features. Conclusion: LPA might provide clinical physicians with aditional indicator of diagnosis, metastasis and prognosis, making it a promising biomarker for pancreatic cancer. Our findings suggested that LPA would be a potential target for treatment of pancreatic cancers.