A study on the measuremet of DKK-1 in the serum of esophageal cancer patients

Objective To explore the expression of DKK-1 and its clinical value in patients with e-sophageal cancer. Methods The levels of serum DKK-1 were measured by sandwich enzyme linked immu-nosorbent assay(ELISA) in 80 patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer and in 35 healthy subjects. The sensitivities of serum DKK-1, CEA and CYFRA21-1 in the patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer were calculated and analyzed to compare their values in diagnosis of esophageal cancer. Results The serum DKK- 1 levels in patients with esophageal squamous cell cancer were significantly higher than those of healthy subjects(P 0.05). And the sensitivity of DKK-1 (66. 25%) was significantly higher than that of CEA, CYFRA21-1 (39. 44% ,25. 35%, P <0. 01). Conclusion DKK-1 played a very important role in the growth and metastasis of esophageal cancer and may be a new tumor marker or an important index in the diagno-sis of esophageal cancer. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms ;  DKK-1 ;  Tumor marker ;  Diagnosis ;