@article{3086491, title = "Osteonectin as a screening marker for pancreatic cancer: A prospective study", author = "Papapanagiotou, A. and Sgourakis, G. and Karkoulias, K. and Raptis, D. and Parkin, E. and Brotzakis, P. and Panchal, S. and Papavassiliou, A.G.", journal = "Journal of International Medical Research", year = "2018", volume = "46", number = "7", pages = "2769-2779", publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd", issn = "0300-0605, 1473-2300", doi = "10.1177/0300060518772413", keywords = "osteonectin; osteonectin; tumor marker, acute pancreatitis; aged; Article; cancer screening; clinical article; clinical outcome; controlled study; diagnostic accuracy; diagnostic test accuracy study; differentiation; female; follow up; human; male; mass screening; pancreas cancer; pilot study; prediction; prospective study; protein blood level; receiver operating characteristic; sensitivity and specificity; tumor volume; adenocarcinoma; blood; case control study; early cancer diagnosis; enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; middle aged; pancreas tumor; predictive value; reference value, Adenocarcinoma; Aged; Biomarkers, Tumor; Case-Control Studies; Early Detection of Cancer; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Osteonectin; Pancreatic Neoplasms; Pilot Projects; Predictive Value of Tests; Prospective Studies; Reference Values", abstract = "Objective: Osteonectin plays a central role in various processes during the development of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. This prospective pilot study was performed to determine the feasibility of serum osteonectin as a screening tool for pancreatic cancer. Methods: Blood samples were collected from 15 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and 30 matched healthy controls. Serum osteonectin was measured using an osteonectin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. The primary outcomes were the diagnostic performance of serum osteonectin and the threshold value for differentiation of patients from controls. Results: The median/quartile range of serum osteonectin in patients and controls were 306.8/288.5 ng/mL and 67.5/39.8 ng/mL, respectively. Osteonectin concentrations significantly differed among the study groups. A plasma osteonectin concentration of >100.18 ng/mL as selected by the receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated an estimated area under the curve of 86% for prediction of pancreatic cancer. Tumour size was a significant predictor of serum osteonectin. A statistically significant difference in serum osteonectin between T1/T2 and T3/T4 tumours was found. Post-hoc comparisons revealed statistically significant differences in the serum osteonectin among the control, T1/T2, and T3/T4 groups. Conclusion: Osteonectin may be used as a screening tool for pancreatic cancer, although this must be validated in prospective studies. © The Author(s) 2018." }