Clinical Importance of Serum and Urinary Fractalkine Level in Primary Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer

Abstract

Objective: Fractalkine is a chemotactic agent that shows both tumorogenic and anti-tumorogenicactivity in some cancer types. In this study, we investigated the role of fractalkinein the diagnosis, progression and recurrence of primer non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer(NMIBC) and compared it with the healthy population.Methods: Overall, 84 people that consisted of 44 cases with primary NMIBC and 40 healthycontrols enrolled for this study. Blood and urine samples were collected and fractalkine levelswere measured by the ELISA method. Urinary creatinine levels were calculated and urinaryfractalkine levels were optimized. Demographic data, tumor stage (Ta, T1), grade (low andhigh), number of tumors, tumor size, recurrence and progression status of patients were recorded.NMP22 test was performed on the patient group and urine cytology was sent fromthe patients. Fractalkine levels and subgroup analyses were compared between two groups.Results: The mean age of patients was 63.9±11.1 and 62.3±9.6 in the control group. Themean urinary fractalkine level was7.8±0.9 ng/ml in the study group and 7.7±0.6 ng/ml inthe control group; there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups(p=0.426). Mean urinary fractalkine/creatinine level was similar between the study groupand control group (16.0±32.2 ng/mgCr and 11.1±7.0 ng/mgCr, respectively, p=0.781). Meanserum fractalkine level was 2.9±1.2 ng/ml in the study group and 2.9±0.7 ng/ml in the controlgroup; there was not a statistically significant difference (p=0.183). Also, we could notfind any relation of fractalkine levels with tumor size, number, recurrence and progression.NMP 22 test was positive in half of the study group and Fractalkine levels were higher inthe patients that NMP22 tests were negative that was statistically significantly. Cytology waspositive for 45.5% of patients, but there was not any statistical correlation between fractalkinelevels and cytology.Conclusion: In this study, we did not find a significant difference concerning serum andurinary fractalkine level between the two groups. These findings do not support the use offractalkine as a biomarker for bladder cancer diagnosis and follow-up.