02 BOOK OF ABSTRACTS .indd

Plasma Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1
(TIMP-1) predicts survival in patients with metastatic
colorectal cancer receiving irinotecan in combination
with 5FU and folinic acid
Nanna Møller Sørensen 1 , Per Byström 2 , Ib Jarle Christensen 3 , Åke Berglund
4
, Hans Jørgen Nielsen 3 , Nils Brünner 1 and Bengt Glimelius 2,4
1
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University,
Denmark; 2 Department of Oncology, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden;
3
Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Hvidovre University Hospital, Denmark;
4
Department of Oncology, Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden
Background: At present no biomarker is in routine use for the prediction of
treatment effects in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients receiving systemic
chemotherapy. TIMP-1 protects cancer cells against apoptosis. We raised the
hypothesis that elevated plasma levels of TIMP-1 in mCRC patients would predict
resistance to apoptosis-inducing chemotherapy. Accordingly, these patients would
have a shorter survival than mCRC patients with low plasma TIMP-1 levels despite
chemotherapy. The objective of the present study was to test this hypothesis.
Patients and Methods: 89 patients with mCRC were included in the study. Plasma
TIMP-1 was measured in samples obtained before the first cycle of chemotherapy.
TIMP-1 was analysed by an ELISA that measures both uncomplexed and complexed TIMP-1.
Results: Plasma TIMP-1 scored as a continuous variable on the log scale
(log
26l12
e
) was significantly associated to OS (HR=3.8, 95% CI: 2.4-6.0, p