COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY OF ENDOSTATIN AND VEGF SERUM LEVELS IN PATIENTS WITH BONE SARCOMAS

Introduction. Angiogenesis regulators are of particular interest as new serum markers in cancer patients, since they reflect the intensity of tumor growth and metastasis. Currently, many works are dedicated to the study of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which activates angiogenesis, and endostatin, which inhibits it. However, a comparative study of the diagnostic accuracy of serum levels of these two markers in patients with bone sarcomas has not been conducted yet. Аim. A comparative analysis of the diagnostic accuracy indicators and prognostic significance of VEGF and endostatin in the blood serum of patients with primary malignant bone tumors. Methods. During the study, the levels of endostatin and VEGF in blood serum samples from 123 patients with a newly diagnosed and morphologically verified bone sarcoma were measured. Patients were examined at the Federal State Budgetary Institution “National Medical Research Center of Oncology named after N.N. Blokhin” of the Russian Ministry of Health from July 2001 to December 2022. Sixty age- and gender-matched healthy donors were included in the control group. Results. Median serum concentrations of endostatin and VEGF in the patient group were statistically significantly increased compared to the control group by 1.3 and 1.4 times, respectively (p < 0.01). Statistically significant differences in the serum concentrations of VEGF and endostatin depending on the T category and the tumor grade and stage were not identified. The cut-off value of VEGF was 279 pg/ml, and the cut-off value of endostatin was 121 ng/ml. With the same sensitivity of 75.6%, endostatin is characterized by higher specificity than VEGF (73.0 and 67.6%, respectively). The proportional hazards model characterizing the effect of serum VEGF and endostatin levels on overall and survival was not statistically significant. Conclusion. Endostatin in the blood serum of patients with bone tumors is more informative compared to VEGF; however, both markers are not predictors of overall and survival.