Biomarker May Predict Susceptibility to Radiation Pneumonitis in Patients With Lung Cancer
Posted: Thursday, January 14, 2021
According to Jia-Hua Yu, MD, of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, and colleagues, high plasma levels of vitronectin before radiotherapy may be predictive of radiation pneumonitis in patients receiving thoracic radiotherapy for lung cancer. This study's results were presented during the 2020 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting (Abstract 1048).
A total of 173 patients provided blood samples before radiotherapy. Of them, 36.4% experienced radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 or higher. Grade 3 radiation pneumonitis occurred in 11.0% of patients. Based on the univariate analysis, tumor histology, use of chemotherapy, tumor status, nodal status, V20 (volume of normal lung receiving 20 Gy), and mean lung dose seemed to be associated with the risk of developing radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 or higher (P < .05). Patients with the vitronectin rs704 GA/GG and rs2227721 AA/AC genotypes seemed to have a significantly lower risk of developing radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 or higher than those with the rs704 AA (P = .012) and rs2227721 CC (P = .019) genotypes, based on the multivariate analysis.
Patients with radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 or higher seemed to experience higher baseline secretion levels of vitronectin than those with radiation pneumonitis of grade 1 or lower (P < .0001); these levels appeared to be proportional to the severity of radiation pneumonitis. Patients with the AA genotype of rs704 exhibited significantly higher plasma levels of vitronectin than those with the GA/GG genotype (P = .048). To evaluate the incidence of radiation pneumonitis of grade 2 or higher, the investigators combined the mean lung dose with the plasma level of vitronectin; the low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups comprised 10.7%, 35.6%, and 70.5% of the study population, respectively (P < .0001).
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit redjournal.org.
