Clinical significance of pre-surgical serum lipid levels in patients with glioblastoma

Accumulating evidence demonstrates that pre-surgical serum lipid levels are linked to the clinical outcome of different types of human malignant tumors, but few studies have explored the prognostic value of these easily accessible parameters in glioblastoma. The aim of the current study was to validate the association between pre-surgical serum lipid levels and the clinical outcome of patients with glioblastoma. The pre-surgical serum lipid levels (triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein [HDL] cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein [LDL] cholesterol) of 125 patients with glioblastoma, who underwent surgery between January 2015 and May 2016, were retrospectively evaluated. The correlation between pre-surgical serum lipid levels and overall survival (OS) was examined using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression model. Univariate analysis showed that lipids associated with OS were total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol levels. Results of multivariate analysis identified LDL cholesterol level as an independent prognostic factor for OS in patients with glioblastoma (hazard ratio: 0.412; 95% confidence interval: 0.211-0.801; P = 0.009). Total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels were predictive factors only in univariate analysis, but not in multivariate analysis. The current study demonstrated that pre-surgical serum LDL cholesterol level is an independent prognostic factor for clinical outcomes of patients with glioblastoma. Pre-surgical serum LDL cholesterol level might provide valuable prognostic information for patients with glioblastoma that could be applied in clinical practice.