Pleural MAC30 as a prognostic marker in NSCLC with malignant pleural effusion

Over-expressed meningioma-associate protein (MAC30) in tissues was associated with malignant tumor differentiation, metastasis and poor prognosis. However, the attention of MAC30 in pleural effusion from lung tumor is insufficient. Our retrospective study was prepared to explore the clinical values on diagnosis and prognosis of MAC30 from malignant pleural effusion (MPE) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Levels of MAC30 were confirmed in MPE from 48 NSCLC patients and in benign pleural effusion (BPE) from 45 controls via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The association of MAC30 in MPE with clinical significance was further determined. We found that the levels of MAC30 in MPE were obviously higher than those in BPE (p < 0.05). Moreover, with a cutoff point (17.5 ng/ml), we confirmed the sensitivity and specificity of MAC30 for MPE were 82.7% and 85.3% using ROC curve analysis. Indeed, longer overall survival (OS) was present in NSCLC patients with low MAC30 expression in MPE. Multivariate analysis explicated that elevated MAC30 in MPE was an independent prognostic factor for shorter OS of NSCLC. Our data suggests that MAC30 in pleural effusion could be a potential prognostic marker in NSCLC with MPE.