Surfactant Protein D and Clinical Outcomes in Lung Cancer
Umeda et al, of Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Japan, reported that the use of serum surfactant protein D level may prove to be a marker of efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor–tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). The investigators, who discovered that surfactant protein D appears to downregulate TKI-sensitive and TKI-resistant EGFR-mutant signaling, published their results in Oncogene. In a previous study, they showed that surfactant protein D blocked ligand binding to EGFR, suppressing wild-type EGFR signaling.
Among the various effects of this protein on EGFR mutations in lung adenocarcinoma, the authors featured a retrospective analysis of 121 patients with this type of lung cancer. They focused on the link between serum surfactant protein D levels and clinical outcomes in those patients treated with TKIs who harbored EGFR mutations (Ex19del or L858R). There appeared to be fewer distant metastases as well as prolonged progression-free and overall survival in those who had high serum levels of surfactant protein D.
