Inflammatory Serum Proteins Are Severely Altered in Metastatic Gastric Adenocarcinoma Patients from the Chinese Population

BackgroundInflammation is one of the major hallmarks of cancer. This study was designed to profile a panel of inflammatory mediators in gastric adenocarcinoma (GA) and to identify their potential differences separately in metastatic and non-metastatic patient subgroups.MethodsSerum samples from 216 GA patients and 333 healthy controls from China were analyzed for six proteins using the Luminex multiplex assay.ResultsThe serum levels for all the six proteins were significantly elevated in metastatic GA compared to non-metastatic GA. Two acute phase proteins (SAA and CRP) and a CXC chemokine (GRO) were significantly elevated in metastatic GA (p ConclusionsThese results suggest that several serum proteins are directly related to the severity of gastric cancer. Overall, stronger associations are observed with metastatic than non-metastatic GA as the protein changes are greater with the metastatic status. A combination of these serum proteins may serve as non-invasive markers to assess the severity status and stage of gastric cancer.