Relationship Between Blood Fibrinogen Concentration and Pathological Features of Cancer Patients: A 139-case Clinical Study

Abstract

Angiogenesis and coagulation are among the most consistent host responses to the presence of a malignant tissue. Pathological angiogenesis and coagulation are often occurred in patients with solid tumors, especially in the occurrence of neoplasm metastasis and as targets for anti-metastatic drugs such as antiangiogenesis agents, coagulation-mediated agents and anticancer drugs. Since fibrinogen (Fib) is the most abundant and key haemostatic protein taking part in angiogenesis and coagulation, its biological and pathophysiological roles in cancer patients are intriguing. To continue foundational and translational research on Fib-related cancer pathogenesis, a phase II survey of 139 patients was carried out at the Central Hospital of Jing-An district and Shanghai University, Shanghai, China. The mean BFC of the cancer patients in this survey was overall about 35-50% greater than that in the normal population. This study showed that the mean BFC was higher in patients with long-distance metastases (N₁M₁ patients) than in patients with no sign of long-distance metastases (N₀M₀ patients). Mean BFCs were 4.42 g/L (n= 21) in patients with lung cancer, 4.36 g/L, and in patients with hepatic cancer (n=5), and 4.63 g/L in patients with stomach cancer (n=8), all higher than the average value of the cancer patients overall (4.16 g/L). However, patients with bowel and colon cancers 3.79 g/L (n=16) showed lower than them. BFC levels increased with increasing cancer duration (latency > 1 year). There was a slight decrease in BFC after one or two treatment cycles, but a more marked decrease after surgery. We propose that the BFC level in cancer patients may be influenced by and related to many aspects of cancer progression such as metastatic conditions, tumor origins, patient’s pathological stage and disease latency. As an important first-hand pathologic-therapeutics relationship study, it provides evidence for the potentiality of a new approach of Fib-targeted as individualized cancer chemotherapy and decides the stages such therapeutics may be best applied.