Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) andMacrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (M-CSF) as PotentialTumor Markers in Non Small Cell Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is an important subject threatening public health. There is not a markerfor early detection of this cancer type in practice yet. When studies on this subject were searched, cytokinesshow promise in diagnosis and guiding treatment. The reason for selecting serum M-CSF and G-CSF levelsis observing tumor related leukocytosis in most of the NSCLC patients. In our study, using enzyme-linkedimmunosorbent assay, we compared serum M-CSF and G-CSF levels of 24 newly diagnosed NSCLC cases with 30healthy individuals. Our data suggests that patients’ serum G-CSF levels were significantly higher than controls(103.2±52.4pg/mL for patients and 25.0±4.5pg/mL for controls, p<0.001) but not significantly different in M-CSFlevels (250.7±102.9pg/mL for patients and 211.6±57.8pg/mL for controls, p>0.05). Our patients’ neutrophil countwas higher than the normal range (mean 7.7x109/L, N=2.5-7.5x109/L). Increased serum G-CSF levels with highneutrophil counts in patients suggests tumor related increase of this cytokine but there was no relationshipbetween serum cytokines and tumor type. There are different results in the literature about cytokine levels inNSCLC patients but the main conclusion, with which we concur, is that ongoing studies will provide consistentresults of value to patients.