Elecsys^® ProGRP

Progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) is a tumor marker with benefits for the management of small-cell lung cancer ­patients.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world with 1.35 million new cases diagnosed every year. The two main histological types of the disease are small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It is important to distinguish between these two subtypes as they have different treatments and prognoses. NSCLC (approx. 80 % of cases), when in the early stages, is curable with surgery. SCLC, however, is an aggressively spreading neoplasm of rapid growth that is usually only treatable with chemo and radiotherapy.¹

ProGRP is the tumor marker of choice for SCLC as it aids in quick and decisive ­discrimination between SCLC and NSCLC for faster decisions on patient treatment. ProGRP is also a tumor marker that can be used to assess response to therapy as well as to monitor recurrence of the ­disease.²

Benefits

• High sensitivity and discrimination aiding the accurate differential diagnosis of SCLC
  
• Excellent precision across the entire measuring range for reliable results
  
• Lung cancer biomarkers available on a single automated platform – CEA, CYFRA 21-1, NSE, ProGRP and SCC
  
• Equivalent performance between plasma and serum for flexibility and ­convenience, thus offering advantages over existing assays³

The 80.1 pg/mL cut-off value is based on the 95 % ­specificity of the NSCLC collective.

Use of ProGRP for the primary differential diagnosis in lung cancer. The ability of ProGRP to distinguish SCLC from NSCLC was investigated in a study on 1059 patients in 5 centers in Europe and China (206 SCLCs and 853 NSCLCs), and ProGRP levels were correlated with biopsy proven histology.³

*LoD = Limit of Detection; LoQ = Limit of Quantitation (≤ 30 % total error).