Exploration of macrophage colony-stimulating factor as a new type of tumor marker

Gastric cancer is a common type of malignancy with a high incidence of mortality. Therefore, tumor markers should be identified to screen for various types of cancer. Elevated serum concentrations of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) have been found in a variety of malignant diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of serum M-CSF as a new type of tumor marker and to determine its effectiveness when combinedd with other tumor markers. Serum was collected from 32 gastric cancer patients, who were initially diagnosed by gastroscopy, at the Department of General Surgery of Huashan Hospital betwee July, 2010 and December, 2011, and 8 controls. The serum level of M-CSF was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA). Clinical and pathological testing was conducted to analyze the differences in the serum level of M-CSF, as comparing to traditional tumor markers. Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and M-CSF levels were found to be significantly higher in the gastric cancer group as compared to the non-gastric cancer group (P<0.05). CEA levels were significantly elevated when the gastric cancer lesions infiltrated the serosa (P=0.046). Additionally, the increased levels of M-CSF were of statistical significance when there was lymph node involvement in gastric cancer. For distant metastasis, the levels of M-CSF were decreased (P=0.026), however, the ratio of CEA to M-CSF values increased significantly (P=0.048). Furthermore, the M-CSF level was positively correlated with TNM stage in gastric cancer patients without distant organ metastasis, in contrast to gastric cancer patients with distant organ metastasis. In conclusion, M-CSF may be considered as a new type of tumor marker that can be combined with traditional tumor markers in order to determine whether the cancer migrated to distant organs.