Clinical significance of detection of plasma PKM2 in patients with NSCLC

SU Peng; CHEN Haiyang

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1002-7386.2017.11.006

Abstract：Objective To investigate the levels of plasma pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC),and to evaluate its clinical significance.Methods Ninety-four patients with NSCLC who underwent radical operation were enrolled as surgery group,and the other 30 patients who were diagnosed as postoperative relapse were enrolled as relapse group,at the same time, 50 healthy subjects were served as control group.The plasma levels of PKM2 were detected by ELISA assay,meanwhile, the plasma levels of MCT4 and GLUT1 were detected.Moreover the ROC curves of plasma PKM2 were drawn in both groups.Results There were significantly differences in levels of plasma PKM2,GLUT1 among the three groups (P<0.05),the order from high to low was relapse group,surgery group before operation,control group (P<0.05).The plasma levels of MCT4 in relapse group and surgery group before operation were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05), however, there were no significantly differences between relapse group and surgery group before operation (P>0.05).The levels of PKM2,GLUT1,MCT4 in surgery group were significantly decreased after operation (P<0.05),but there were no significant differences between surgery group and control group (P>0.05).Spearman correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation among the three indexes in surgery group before operation (P<0.05).The plasma levels of PKM2 in relapse group were positivelty correlated to those of GLUT1,MCT4 (P<0.05),but the levels of MCT4 were not correlated to those of GLUT1 (P>0.05).The optimal cut-off value of PKM2 in surgery group before operation was 15.78U/ml, with the area under curve being 0.873,and sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of NSCLC were 69.1%,94.0%,respectively.The optimal cut-off value of PKM2 in relapse group was 16.87U/ml,with the area under curve being 0.965,and sensitivity and specificity in diagnosis of NSCLC were 83.3%,98.0%,respectively.Conclusion The plasma levels of PKM2 are obviously increased in patients with NSCLC before operation and at relapse period,therefor,it is valuable to detect plasma levels of PKM2 for diagnosis of NSCLC and prediction of relapse of tumor.Moreover PKM2 may be involved in progress and relapse of NSCLC by regulation with MCT4 or GLUT1 each other.