Detection of PRL-3 protein in the preoperative serum of patients with colorectal cancer

Purpose: The aim of study was to detect PRL-3 protein in sera of patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: The study group consisted of 22 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 10 healthy controls. The serum concentration of PRL-3 protein was evaluated by the ELISA method. Results: In the study group with colorectal cancer, the level of PRL-3 protein in preoperative sera was negative (<0.115ng/ml) in 7 cases while the mean value of PRL-3 concentration was 0.616ng/ml (range 0.206-2.072ng/ml) in 15 patients. No statistically significant differences between the study group and healthy controls were observed. Our data showed that increase in level of PRL-3 protein in sera of patients with colorectal cancer is associated with greater tumor size (p<0.05). Conclusions: PRL-3 protein was found to be present in sera of patients with colorectal cancer. However, our study indicates lack of clinical usefulness of determining the levels of PRL-3 in the sera of patients with colorectal cancer.