A preliminary exploration of serum levels of AKAP4 in patients with several malignant tumors

Objective: To determine the serum level of A-kinase anchor protein 4 (AKAP4) in lung, colorectal and breast cancer, and investigate the significance of AKAP4 in the clinical diagnosis. Methods: Sera sample and clinical data were taken from 199 patients between Jan, 2017 to Dec, 2018 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiao Tong University and Ankang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, including: 32 cases of colorectal cancer, 29 cases of breast cancer, 47 cases of lung cancer, 27 cases of intestinal benign disease, 24 cases of breast benign disease and 40 cases of pulmonary benign lesions. The results of three groups of cancer patients were compared with those of the benign groups. Serum AKAP4 was detected by ELISA, and serum CEA, CYFRA21-1, CA125, CA19-9, CA72-4 and CA15-3 were detected by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, and the positive rates (PR) were compared with AKAP4. Results: The level of AKAP4 was higher in the colorectal cancer group than that of the intestinal benign disease group, and the level of AKAP4 was higher in the breast cancer group than that of the breast benign disease group (P < 0.05). The positive rate of AKAP4 in colorectal cancer patients was 37.50%, with no significant difference with the PR of CEA, CA19-9 and CA72-4 (P > 0.05), but with a significant difference with the benign intestinal disease group (P < 0.05). The PR of AKAP4 in breast cancer patients was 55.17%, with no significant different with the PR of CEA, CA125 and CA15-3 (P > 0.05), but with a significant difference with the benign breast disease group (P < 0.05). The level and PR (17.02%) of AKAP4 in the lung cancer group had no significant difference with those in the benign lung lesions group (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that AKAP4 in serum is highly sensitive to colorectal cancer and breast cancer, and has a great reference value for the diagnosis of both, but no reference value for the diagnosis of lung cancer. (authors)