Serum Hepcidin and GDF-15 levels as prognostic markers in urothelial carcinoma of the upper urinary tract and renal cell carcinoma

Lisa Traeger†,
Ines Ellermann†,
Helene Wiethoff,
Janina Ihbe,
Inka Gallitz,
Maria Eveslage,
Rudolf Moritz,
Edwin Herrmann,
Andres Jan Schrader and
Andrea U. SteinbickerEmail author View ORCID ID profile

†Contributed equally

BMC Cancer201919:74

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-019-5278-0

Received: 6 June 2018
Accepted: 4 January 2019
Published: 15 January 2019

Open Peer Review reports

Abstract

Background

Cancer is a life-threatening disease that causes every fourth death. It is often hard to determine the time point of progression. Therefore, biomarkers for cancer entities that indicate disease progression or aggressiveness and thereby guide therapeutic decisions are required. Unfortunately, reliable biomarkers are rare. In this study, the potential of serum hepcidin and serum GDF-15 as biomarkers that correlate with patient’s survival in the two entities upper urinary tract urothelial carcinomas (UUTUC) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) were analyzed.

Methods

In this retrospective study n = 38 patients suffering from UUTUC, n = 94 patients suffering from RCC and n = 21 patients without infections or cancer, all hospitalized at the University Hospital Muenster, were included. Serum samples of patients were retrospectively analyzed. Serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels were measured and correlated to aggressiveness and progression of the disease as well as patient’s outcome.

Results

For both entities, UUTUC and RCC, serum hepcidin levels as well as serum GDF-15 levels were increased compared to sera of controls. High serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels were associated with metastases and cancer relapse. Also, in both entities, the overall survival was decreased in patients with increased serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels. Hence, high serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels correlated with patient’s outcome.

Conclusion

To conclude, the data of this study show a correlation of high serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels with aggressiveness and progression of the disease and demonstrate potential prognostic properties of serum hepcidin and GDF-15 levels. The data support the further assessment of serum hepcidin and GDF-15 as prognostic markers in RCC and UUTUC.