Serum acute phase reactants and prognosis in renal cell carcinoma.

Abstract

Inflammatory parameters as acute phase proteins commonly are elevated in patients with renal cell carcinoma. Some of these acute phase reactants have been proposed to influence survival. In 170 patients with renal cell carcinoma, the authors studied six acute phase reactant parameters (erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], C-reactive protein, haptoglobin, ferritin, orosomucoid, and alpha 1-antitrypsin) that were compared with stage and grade. The acute phase reactants correlated well with each other and with stage and grade. All acute phase reactants separately were found to be significant prognostic factors of survival using the log rank test. However, when a multivariate Cox analysis was performed, only stage, grade, and ESR were identified as independent prognostic factors, whereas the other factors were not. The study suggests that all acute phase reactants separately were found to be significant univariate prognostic factors, but in a multivariate analysis, ESR was the only independent prognostic parameter for survival.