Elevated pretreatment serum concentration of YKL-40—An independent prognostic biomarker for poor survival in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

19044 Background: YKL-40 is produced by cancer cells and tumor-associated macrophages and may play a role in cancer cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, invasiveness, metastasis and angiogenesis. A high serum YKL-40 level has been associated with poor prognosis in patients (pts) with several cancer types, but has not been studied in pts with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The purpose of this study was to evaluate YKL-40 in pretreatment serum samples from patients with metastatic NSCLC. Methods: Pretreatment serum levels (sls) of YKL-40, VEGF, and MMP-9 were analyzed in 189 pts with ELISA. 23 pts (12%) had stage IIIB disease with malignant pleural effusion and 166 pts (88%) stage IV disease. 143 male/46 female, median age 62 years [range 40–75], median Karnofsky PS 90%. 98 pts received gemcitabine and vinorelbine, and 91 pts gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and cisplatin as first line chemotherapy. Results: Pts with metastatic NSCLC had significantly higher YKL-40 sls (median sl 209μg/l, range 19 -...