Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common

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1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Elevated Preoerative C-reactive Protein Predicts Poor Cancer Secific Survival in Patients Undergoing Resection for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Caroline O Dowd, MBChB, MRCP,* Laura A. McRae, MBChB,* Donald C. McMillan, Alan Kirk, MBChB, FRCS, and Robert Milroy, MBChB, FRCP, MD* Background: Although only the minority of atients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are suitable for surgical resection, it offers the best ossibility of cure. The aim of this study was to examine the relationshi between the clinicoathological status, the reoerative systemic inflammatory resonse, and survival in atients undergoing otentially curative resection for NSCLC. Methods: Data from 96 atients who underwent resection of NSCLC between 2000 and 2003 were collected retrosectively and that for rosectively. Results: All atients had Eastern cooerative oncology grou erformance status 0 or 1. No atient had T4, unresectable nodal or metastatic disease, and all macroscoic tumors were removed, with subsequent negative surgical margins. The majority of atients were older than 60 years (71%), men (57%), underwent a lobectomy (65%), and had tumor, node, metastasis stage I disease (66%). Of the markers of the systemic inflammatory resonse, white cell count, C-reactive rotein, and albumin, only an elevated C-reactive rotein ( 10 mg/l) was associated with cancer-secific survival. On multivariate analysis, only tumor, node, metastasis stage (hazard ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval , 0.001) and reoerative C-reactive rotein (hazard ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval , 0.05) retained indeendent significance. Those atients with a reoerative C-reactive rotein concentration 10 mg/l had a median survival of 26.2 months comared with 75.9 months in those atients with a C-reactive rotein 10 mg/l ( 0.05). *Deartment of Resiratory Medicine, Stobhill Hosital; University Deartment of Surgery, University of Glasgow-Faculty of Medicine, Royal Infirmary; and Deartment of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Western Infirmary, Glasgow, United Kingdom. Disclosure: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Address corresondence to: Dr. Caroline O Dowd, Deartment of Resiratory Medicine, Gartnavel General Hosital, 1053 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0YN, United Kingdom. caroline_odowd@ hotmail.com or caroline.odowd@nhs.net Data from this article were resented in abstract form in the British Thoracic Society Winter meeting, London, 2008, and International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer World Lung Cancer Conference, San Francisco, Coyright 2010 by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer ISSN: /10/ Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the resence of a systemic inflammatory resonse redicts oor outcome in atients who have undergone otentially curative resection for lung cancer. Key Words: Non-small cell lung cancer, Surgery, Tumor stage, C-reactive rotein, White cell count, Albumin, Survival. (J Thorac Oncol. 2010;5: ) Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of cancer-related death in North America and Western Euroe. Most atients resent with advanced inoerable disease and the majority die within 12 months. 1 Although only suitable in the minority of atients, aroximately 11% in the UK, 2 surgery confers the greatest chance of long-term cure. Desite careful selection, in terms of tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) stage and fitness, aroximately 30% of atients with early-stage disease, who undergo surgical resection, will develo metastatic sread and die of their disease. 3 Therefore, there has been a longstanding interest in identifying those atients with aarently early-stage disease most likely to die of lung cancer. Ideally, a factor or combination of factors would clearly stratify atients who will remain disease free and are cured from those who will ultimately die of their cancer. 4 Currently, TNM stage is the most widely used tool to redict the likely outcome. However, desite revisions, there is considerable overla in survival between the stages. 3,5,6 The systemic inflammatory resonse, as manifest by alterations in white cell count and circulating concentrations of the acute-hase roteins, C-reactive rotein, and albumin, has been shown to be an indeendent rognostic factor in various advanced cancers 7 9 including non-small cell lung cancer More recently, it has been reorted that when various tumors were resected with curative intent, an elevated C- reactive rotein concentration has been shown to be associated with oorer cancer-secific survival, indeendent of athologic stage Therefore, it is of interest that Hara et al. 18 recently reorted that, in 203 atients who had undergone otentially curative resection for NSCLC, an elevated reoerative C- Journal of Thoracic Oncology Volume 5, Number 7, July 2010

2 Journal of Thoracic Oncology Volume 5, Number 7, July 2010 Survival in Resected Lung Cancer reactive rotein concentration was associated with oorer cancer-secific survival indeendent of TNM stage. In addition, it has been reorted that an elevated reoerative C-reactive rotein concentration was associated with a oorer comlete resection rate, 19 larger tumors size, and lymhovascular invasion. 20 However, the rognostic value of C-reactive rotein has not been shown in other studies. 21,22 The aim of this study was to examine the relationshi between clinicoathologic status, systemic inflammatory resonse (measured before surgery), and cancer-secific survival in atients undergoing otentially curative resection of NSCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients Patients with histologically roven NSCLC who, on the basis of surgical findings and/or reoerative chest and abdominal comuted tomograhy, were considered to have undergone a otentially curative resection and had routine laboratory measurement of albumin and C-reactive rotein in the 2 months before surgery, between March 2000 and November 2006 in a single unit in the North Glasgow NHS Trust, were included in the study. Patients who died within 30 days of surgery were excluded from the analysis. During this eriod, data were collected for 96 of 108 atients who underwent resection for non-small cell lung cancer. Data for were collected retrosectively and that for rosectively. All atients had Eastern cooerative oncology grou erformance status 0 or 1. No atient had T4, unresectable nodal or metastatic disease, and all macroscoic tumor was removed, with subsequent negative surgical margins. All atients underwent thoracotomy, and no atient underwent video-assisted thoracoscoic surgery. Patients were staged according to the 1997 TNM classification of lung tumors. 5 No atient had comuted tomograhy-ositron emission tomograhy scanning because this study redated routine comuted tomograhy-ositron emission tomograhy scanning in the staging of radically treatable atients with lung cancer. Preoerative white cell count was available in 73 atients. After surgery, atients were considered to have undergone adjuvant treatment if they received chemotheray (mainly cislatin based) and/or radical radiotheray. The Research Ethics Committee of North Glasgow NHS Trust aroved the study. Methods Serum concentrations of albumin and C-reactive rotein were measured by a bromcresol green dye-binding method and turbidometric assay, resectively, using an autoanalyzer (Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Park, IL). The limit of detection for C-reactive rotein was 6 mg/l. The inter- and intra-assay variability of white cell count, albumin, and C- reactive rotein were less than 10% as assessed by routine quality control rocedures. A C-reactive rotein concentration of 10 mg/l was considered to indicate the resence of a systemic inflammatory resonse. 7,8 Statistics Grouing of the variables age, tumor tye, oeration, white cell count, and albumin was carried out using standard thresholds. 9,11,22 C-reactive rotein concentrations were also groued ( 10/ 10 mg/l) as reviously described. 7 Values from grous of atients were comared using contingency table analysis ( 2 ) as aroriate. Survival was analyzed using the Cox roortional hazards model; deaths u to the end of January 2009 were included in the analysis. For multivariate survival analysis, a stewise backward rocedure to derive a final model of the variables that had a significant indeendent relationshi with survival was used. To remove a variable from the model, the corresonding value had to be Analysis was erformed using SPSS software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). RESULTS The clinicoathological characteristics of atients with oerable NSCLC at diagnosis are shown in Table 1. The TABLE 1. Clinicoathological Characteristics and Cancer-Secific Survival of Patients Undergoing Potentially Curative Resection for NSCLC Patients n 96 Univariate Survival Analysis Hazard Ratio (95%CI) Multivariate Survival Analysis Hazard Ratio (95%CI) Age ( 60/ 60 yr) 26/ ( ) Sex (female/male) 40/ ( ) Tye (adeno/squamous/other) 47/39/ ( ) Oeration (lobectomy/neumonectomy/wedge 64/23/ ( ) resection) TNM stage (I/II/III) 65/19/ ( ) ( ) White cell count ( 8.5/ / /L) 43/16/ ( ) Albumin ( 35/ 35 g/l) 90/ ( ) C-reactive rotein ( 10/ 10 mg/l) 49/ ( ) ( ) Adjuvant treatment (yes/no) 12/ ( ) TNM, tumor, node, metastasis. Coyright 2010 by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 989

3 O Dowd et al. Journal of Thoracic Oncology Volume 5, Number 7, July 2010 majority of atients were older than 60 years (73%), men (58%), underwent a lobectomy (67%), and had TNM stage I disease (68%). Nineteen ercent atients had an elevated white cell count, 7% atients had a low albumin concentration, and 48% atients had an elevated C-reactive rotein concentration. Thirteen ercent of atients received adjuvant treatment. The minimal follow-u eriod was 28 months; the median follow-u eriod of the survivors was 75 months. In Cumulative survival Survival (months) FIGURE 1. The relationshi between tumor, node, metastasis stage (I, II, and III from to to bottom) and cancer-secific survival in atients with non-small cell lung cancer Cumulative survival Survival (months) FIGURE 2. The relationshi between reoerative C-reactive rotein ( 10 mg/l/ 10 mg/l from to to bottom) and cancersecific survival in atients with non-small cell lung cancer. 990 Coyright 2010 by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

4 Journal of Thoracic Oncology Volume 5, Number 7, July 2010 Survival in Resected Lung Cancer TABLE 2. The Relationshi Between Preoerative C-reactive Protein ( 10/ 10 mg/l) and Clinicoathological Characteristics and Cancer-Secific Survival of Patients Undergoing Potentially Curative Resection for NSCLC C-reactive Protein (<10 mg/l, n 49) C-reactive Protein (>10 mg/l, n 47) Age ( 60/ 60 yr) 13/36 13/ Sex (female/male) 20/29 20/ Tye (adeno/squamous/other) 28/16/5 19/23/ Oeration (lobectomy/ 34/8/7 30/15/ neumonectomy/wedge resection) TNM stage (I/II/III) 37/7/5 28/12/ White cell count ( 8.5/ 25/5/6 18/11/ / /L) Albumin ( 35/ 35 g/l) 49/0 41/ Adjuvant treatment (yes/no) 45/4 39/ Survival (mo) a 75.9 ( ) 26.2 ( ) a Median (95% confidence interval). TNM, tumor, node, metastasis. the follow-u eriod, 58 atients died of their disease. On univariate analysis, oeration ( 0.10), TNM stage ( 0.01, Figure 1), and reoerative C-reactive rotein concentrations ( 0.05, Figure 2) were significantly associated with cancer-secific survival (Table 1). On multivariate analysis of these significant variables, only TNM stage (hazard ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval , 0.01) and reoerative C-reactive rotein (hazard ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval , 0.05) retained indeendent significance. The relationshi between the resence of an elevated reoerative C-reactive rotein concentration and clinicoathological characteristics are shown in Table 2. There were no significant associations with the clinicoathological characteristics with the excetion of albumin, which was lower in the elevated C-reactive rotein grou ( 0.01). The atient grou with a normal reoerative C-reactive rotein concentration ( 10 mg/l) had a median survival of 75.9 months comared with 26.2 months in the elevated C-reactive rotein grou ( 0.05, Table 2). DISCUSSION Surgical resection remains the best rosect for longterm survival in atients with NSCLC. Currently, in atients undergoing surgery, rognostic factors are mainly based on the athologic findings from the resected tumor. However, this means that the assessment of rognosis occurs after a major oeration with significant morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is of considerable interest that in this study, an elevated circulating concentration of C-reactive rotein ( 10 mg/l) was associated with oor survival indeendent of TNM stage. Those atients with a normal reoerative C- reactive rotein concentration ( 10 mg/l) had a median survival of 72.5 months comared with 26.2 months in those atients with an elevated C-reactive rotein concentration. Dichotomised variables were used in the analysis based on revious work on the value of systemic inflammatory resonse markers in redicting survival in oerable cancer. 23 The value of standardized threshold ( 10/ 10 mg/l) for C-reactive rotein is that it can have routine clinical utility. Although continuous variables may have a more close association with outcome, they are rarely useful in clinical decision making. It has been reviously shown that, in atients with rimary oerable gastrointestinal cancers, aroximately one-third to one-half of atients had an elevated circulating concentration of C-reactive rotein reoeratively and that these atients had a significantly oorer outcome indeendent of tumor stage It may be that because C-reactive rotein concentration is indeendent of tumor stage, it might form the basis of a new rognostic score that reflects not only the tumor anatomy but also the host resonse. Indeed, this aroach has recently been used to imrove the rediction of outcome in atients who underwent otentially curative resection for esohageal and colorectal cancer. 24,25 Acute-hase roteins are just one asect of the systemic inflammatory resonse. 26 There are cellular comonents of the systemic inflammatory resonse and an elevated white cell count has been reorted to have rognostic value in atients with a variety of common solid tumors. 9,27,28 However, in this study, elevated white cell count seemed to have no rognostic value in atients with rimary oerable NSCLC. The results of this study may also offer insight into the nature of the relationshi between the systemic inflammatory resonse and survival in atients with rimary oerable NSCLC. C-reactive rotein may lay a ivotal role in the tumor-host relationshi because it is recognized to be not only an activator of innate immunity but also a modulator of adative immunity. 29 Moreover, the increase of C-reactive rotein seems to be a recursor to tumor dissemination and rogressive involuntary loss of weight and lean tissue, 30,31 which are key factors in determining cancer survival. In this study, there were a number of limitations. The degree of comorbid disease and the smoking history of the atients were not accurately recorded. Recently, Koch et al. 32 reorted that the combination of smoking and an elevated C-reactive rotein indeendently redicted oor survival in atients with advanced-stage lung cancer. However, no atients had comorbid disease significant enough to reclude surgery, and all atients were advised to sto smoking before surgery. Therefore, it is unclear whether smoking would have indeendently redicted survival in this study. This study did not examine the relationshi between tumor athologic feature other than tumor tye and TNM stage. However, Jones et al. 33 reorted that fibrinogen and C-reactive rotein concentrations were directly associated with tumor size in atients undergoing resection of non-small cell lung cancer. This relatively small study requires verification in larger rosective cohorts, articularly within the context of randomized controlled trials. However, if an elevated C- reactive rotein concentration is confirmed to redict a oorer outcome, it may be the case that atients with resected Coyright 2010 by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer 991

5 O Dowd et al. Journal of Thoracic Oncology Volume 5, Number 7, July 2010 NSCLC, yet a high inflammatory rofile reoeratively, undergo more intensive follow-u and/or adjuvant treatment. Alternatively, it would be imortant to consider whether modulation of the systemic inflammatory resonse may be a useful aroach in these atients in the erioerative eriod. In summary, the results of this study indicate that, in atients who have undergone otentially curative resection for NSCLC, the resence of an elevated C-reactive rotein redicts oor outcome. REFERENCES 1. Cancerstats, Available at: Accessed June Sign Guideline 80. Available at: htt:// Accessed June Wagner KJ. Surgical management of non-small cell lung cancer. Semin Oncol Nurs 2008;24: Brundage MD, Davies D, Mackillo WJ. Prognostic factors in non-small cell lung cancer: a decade of rogress. Chest 2002;122: Mountain CF. Revisions in the international system for staging lung cancer. Chest 1997;111: Milroy R. Staging of lung cancer. 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