The predicting role of serum tumor-specific growth factor for prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

OBJECTIVE: Tumor-specific growth factor (TSGF) is an immune-related factor that offers good performance in the clinical management of human cancers. However, the role of serum TSGF in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been fully clarified. METHODS: A total of 562 ESCC cases were collected in our study, with available information on preoperative serum levels of TSGF at diagnosis. Preoperative serum TSGF was detected using the rate method. We retrospectively analyzed its correlation with clinicopathological features of ESCC and survival. RESULTS: The cut-off value of serum TSGF was determined to be 60.5 U/mL by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Serum TSGF was associated with gender (P < 0.001), tumor location (P = 0.022), tobacco use (P < 0.001), alcohol consumption (P < 0.001), lymph node involvement (P = 0.007), and TNM staging (P = 0.004). The survival analysis revealed that ESCC patients with high levels of serum TSGF had poorer prognosis than those with high TSGF (P = 0.006), especially for male ESCC cases (P = 0.001), under 60 year (P = 0.036), male middle location (P = 0.023), tobacco consumption (P = 0.004), G1 + G2 (P = 0.031), advanced T staging (P = 0.033), lymph node involvement (P = 0.003), TNM staging (P = 0.003). Univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that exposure to smoking and drinking, tumor grade, T staging, lymph node metastasis, TNM staging, and serum TSGF level were the prognosis-related factors of ESCC. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that smoking history, higher serum TSGF levels, and advanced T stage enhanced the risk of ESCC-related death. CONCLUSION: In brief, serum TSGF levels had in relation to malignant features of ESCC. It was positively correlated with survival but was identified as an independent risk factor for ESCC.