Predictive Value of Serum Biomarkers in Prostate Cancer Progression.

[BACKGROUND] The identification of reliable biomarkers for prostate cancer remains a pressing need in clinical oncology. Inflammatory and regulatory molecules such as NF-κB p65, apolipoprotein E (ApoE), angiopoietin-1 (Ang-1), forkhead box protein A2 (FOXA2), presenilin enhancer-2 (PEN-2) and β-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) have been implicated in tumour biology. However, their roles in prostate cancer progression and invasion require further elucidation.

[METHODS] Serum levels of NF-κB p65, ApoE, Ang-1, FOXA2, PEN-2 and β-APP were measured in five distinct groups: Healthy controls, benign prostatic hyperplasia, non-treated prostate cancer, radical prostatectomy and metastatic prostate cancer. Quantification was performed using validated sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Elabscience®, Wuhan, China), with optical density readings at 450 nm. All measurements adhered strictly to manufacturer protocols. Receiver operating characteristic curve was analysed to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) for each biomarker.

[RESULTS] ApoE (AUC = 0.83) and Ang-1 (AUC = 0.81) demonstrated the best diagnostic accuracy. PEN-2 (AUC = 0.81), FOXA2 (AUC = 0.79), and β-APP (AUC = 0.79) showed moderate-to-good discrimination, whereas NF-κB p65 (AUC = 0.76) exhibited moderate performance across disease stages.

[CONCLUSIONS] Ang-1 and ApoE exhibited promising predictive potential in prostate cancer progression, whereas NF-κB p65 and PEN-2 demonstrated modest discriminative performance. FOXA2 showed expression variation across disease stages but lacked sufficient diagnostic value. These results highlight the diverse molecular profiles involved in prostate cancer biology and underline the need for validation in larger cohorts before clinical application.