Relation between the Serum E‐Selectin Level and the Survival Rate of Patients with Resected Non‐small Cell Lung Cancers

E‐Selectin is an inducible adhesion molecule, which is expressed on cytokine‐activated endothelial cells and is thought to interact with cancer cells to initiate metastases. The relationship between serum E‐selectin levels and prognoses in 101 patients with resected non‐small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) was studied, and survival curves were compared in relation to E‐selectin levels and expression of two carbohydrate antigens, Sialyl Lewis(x) (SLX) and Sialyl Lewis(a) (CA19‐9), which were immunohistochemically detected in resected specimens in 65 of the 101 cases. The serum Eselectin level on admission was 48.9±25.7 ng/ml (mean±SD, n=101), and the E‐selectin‐positive rate was 22.7%, being correlated with the progression of T‐factor. The high E‐selectin group showed a significantly worse survival rate than the normal E‐selectin group. Multivariate analysis confirmed the significant prognostic value of E‐selectin. The mean postoperative E‐selectin level in 52 cases (36.93 ng/ml) was significantly lower than the preoperative E‐selectin level (43.57 ng/ml), indicating that certain NSCLCs might induce the expression of E‐selectin. In cases expressing carbohydrate antigens (SLX, CA19‐9), the high E‐selectin group showed a significantly worse survival curve than the normal E‐selectin group. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the survival curve between the high and normal E‐selectin groups when carbohydrate antigens were negative. These results suggest that patients who have high serum E‐selectin levels, especially with carbohydrate antigen‐positive NSCLC, might be expected to have poor prognoses.