Serum Midkine Correlates with Tumor Progression and Imatinib in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

Background A previous study identified midkine (MK) expression in primary gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) as a prognostic marker. The aim of the current study was to compare serum midkine (S-MK) concentrations of GIST patients with those of healthy controls and to determine if MK can serve as a prognostic serum marker for these patients.