PLoS ONE (Jan 2014)

Evaluation of uric acid as a prognostic blood-based marker in a large cohort of pancreatic cancer patients.

  • Michael Stotz,
  • Joanna Szkandera,
  • Julia Seidel,
  • Tatjana Stojakovic,
  • Hellmut Samonigg,
  • Daniel Reitz,
  • Thomas Gary,
  • Peter Kornprat,
  • Renate Schaberl-Moser,
  • Gerald Hoefler,
  • Armin Gerger,
  • Martin Pichler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104730
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 8
p. e104730

Abstract

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BackgroundRecently, chemical blood parameters gain more attraction as potential prognostic parameters in pancreatic cancer (PC). In the present study we investigated the prognostic relevance of the uric acid (UA) level in blood plasma at the time of diagnosis for overall survival (OS) in a large cohort of patients with PC.Patients and methodsData from 466 consecutive patients with ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were evaluated retrospectively. Overall survival (OS) was analysed using the Kaplan-Meier method. To further evaluate the prognostic significance of the UA level, univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were calculated.ResultsNone of the clinicopathological parameters (tumour grade, clinical stage, age, CA19-9 level, Karnofski Index (KI) or surgical resection) except gender was associated with UA level. In univariate analysis we observed the elevated UA level (ConclusionIn conclusion, we identified the UA level at time of diagnosis as an independent prognostic factor in PC patients. Our results indicate that the UA level might represent a novel and useful marker for patient stratification in PC management.