Investigation of serum levels and tissue expression of two genes IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 act as potential biomarker for predicting the progression and survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme

Abstract Background Identification of genetic copy number changes in glial tumors is of importance in the context of improved/refined diagnostic, prognostic procedures and therapeutic decision-making. Blood-derived biomarkers, therefore, would be useful as minimally invasive markers that could support diagnosis and enable monitoring of tumour growth and response to treatment. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of IGFBP-2/3 in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and their value as predictors of survival. Methods We examined the plasma levels of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 using ELISA in patient suffering from GBM and controls groups. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry method was used to evaluate the expression levels of these markers. Results Preoperative plasma levels of IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 were markedly higher in glioblastoma patients (mean ± SD: 521.5 ± 164.2 ng/ml; 402.4 ± 126 ng/ml) when compared with healthy controls (301.28 ± 73.12; 244 ± 89.5 ng/ml; p $_amp_$lt; 0.001). Immunohistochemical results indicated that the median H score for glioblastoma tissues was higher when compared with normal tissues. The mean scores for IGFBP-2 expression in glioblastoma was higher than normal tissues ( p $_amp_$lt; 0.001). Our result showed that the median H score for glioblastoma tissues was higher when compared with normal tissue for IGFBP-3 expression. The mean scores for glioblastoma tissues was higher than normal tissues ( p $_amp_$lt; 0.001). We also evaluated whether plasma IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 levels were related to clinical features. The plasma IGFBP-2 level was strongly linked to the patient ' s age ( R = 0.769, P = 0.001) that were strongly increased in patients with older age ($_amp_$gt; 65), (mean ± SD: 594.36 ± 33.3 ng/ml). On the other hand, plasma IGFBP-3 level was not correlated with age ( P = 0.462), sex ( P = 0.532), and tumor size ( P = 0.245). Our findings indicated that the tissue IGFBP-2 level was also markedly correlated with the patient ' s age ( R = 0.612, P = 0.015). On the other hand, tissue IGFBP-3 expression level was not correlated with age ( P = 0.472), sex ( P = 0.512), and tumor size ( P = 0.241). Kaplan-Meier survival and log-rank analysis suggested that patients with high plasma level of IGFBP-2 and tissue expression of IGFBP-2 had shorter overall survival than those with low levels (log-rank test P = 0.027; P $_amp_$lt; 0.001). Kaplan-Meier survival and log-rank analysis suggested that patients with high p