Clinical significance of serum omentin-1 levels in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND: Omentin is related with metabolic syndrome and obesity. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) is a lethal and obesity-linked malignancy. This study was conducted to investigate the serum levels of omentin in patients with PA and the relationship with tumor progression and known prognostic parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from thirty-three patients on first admission before any treatment. Age, sex and body mass index (BMI) matched 30 healthy controls were included in the analysis. Both serum omentin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 59 years (32–84 years). Twenty (61%) patients were men and the remaining were women. The most common metastatic site was liver in 23 patients with metastasis (n = 19, 83%). Thirty-nine percent of 23 metastatic patients who received palliative chemotherapy (CTx) were CTx–responsive. Median overall survival of the whole group was 41.3 ± 8.3 weeks [95% confidence interval (CI) = 25–58 weeks]. The baseline serum omentin levels were significantly higher in patients with PA than in the control group (p < 0.001). Serum omentin levels were significantly higher in patients with larger pathologic tumor size compared with smaller size (p = 0.03). Conversely, serum omentin concentration was found to have no prognostic role on survival (p = 0.54). CONCLUSION: Serum levels of omentin may have a good diagnostic role in patients with PA.