The diagnostic and prognostic value of serum YKL-40 in endometrial cancer

Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum YKL-40 in endometrial cancer (EC). Methods Serum YKL-40 levels were detected and compared in 34 of the 50 cases with EC before surgery, in 22 of the 34 with EC after surgery, in 30 cases with uterine myoma, and in 30 healthy women as normal controls. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were adopted for diagnosis and calculation of area under each ROC curve in EC. The progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) between YKL-40 positive and negative patients were compared in the follow-up. Results The mean pre-operative serum YKL-40 values were significantly higher than that in the uterine myoma cases and in the healthy women ( P = 0.000). The mean post-operative serum YKL-40 in the 22 EC cases was significantly lower than pre-operative serum YKL-40 levels in these cases ( P = 0.000). There were critical differences between the area under ROC curve for YKL-40 and CA125 ( P = 0.053). The PFS and OS for the YKL-40-positive patients were significantly shorter than those for the YKL-40-negative patients. Conclusion Preliminary investigations have shown that serum YKL-40 level may have a definite clinical value in the diagnosis and prognosis of EC.