Increased Serum S-TRAIL Level in Newly Diagnosed Stage-IV Lung Adenocarcinoma but not Squamous Cell Carcinoma is Correlated with Age and Smoking

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. Many factors can protectagainst or facilitate its development. A TNF family member TRAIL, has a complex physiological role beyondthat of merely activating the apoptotic pathway in cancer cells. Vitamin D is converted to its active form locallyin the lung, and is also thought to play an important role in lung health. Our goal was to investigate the possibleclinical significance of serum sTRAIL and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) levels in patients with non-small celllung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: Totals of 18 consecutive adenocarcinoma and 22 squamous cellcarcinoma patients with stage-IV non-small cell lung cancer referred to our institute were included in this study.There were 12 men and 6 women, with ages ranging from 38 to 97 (mean 60.5) years with adenocarcinoma, and20 men and 2 women, with ages ranging from 46 to 80 (mean 65) years with squamous cell carcinoma. Serumlevels of sTRAIL and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) were measured in all samples at the time of diagnosis. <br/><b>Results</b>:sTRAIL levels in NSCLC patients were higher than in the control group. Although there was no correlationbetween patient survival and sTRAIL levels, the highest sTRAIL levels were correlated with age and cigarettesmoking in the adenocarcinoma patients. sTRAIL level in healthy individuals were correlated with serum1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Serum sTRAIL concentrations were increased in NSCLC patients,and correlated with age and smoking history, but not with overall survival.