Diagnostic and Prognostic Impact of Circulating YKL-40, IL-6, and CA 19.9 in Patients with Pancreatic Cancer

PurposeWe tested the hypothesis that high plasma YKL-40 and IL-6 associate with pancreatic cancer and short overall survival.Patients and MethodsIn all, 559 patients with pancreatic cancer from prospective biomarker studies from Denmark (n = 448) and Germany (n = 111) were studied. Plasma YKL-40 and IL-6 were determined by ELISAs and serum CA 19.9 by chemiluminescent immunometric assay.ResultsOdds ratios (ORs) for prediction of pancreatic cancer were significant for all biomarkers, with CA 19.9 having the highest AUC (CA 19.9: OR = 2.28, 95% CI 1.97 to 2.68, pConclusionsPlasma YKL-40 and IL-6 had less diagnostic impact than CA 19.9. Combination of pretreatment YKL-40, IL-6, and CA 19.9 may have clinical value to identify pancreatic cancer patients with the poorest prognosis.