Serum transforming growth factor-β1 level reflects disease status in patients with esophageal carcinoma after radiotherapy

Table 1 Patient characteristics

Characteristic	Number of patients
Gender
Male	64
Female	26
Age (yr)
Range	42-75
Median	57.80
Pathology
Squamous cell carcinoma	88
Undifferentiated carcinoma	2
Location
Upper-thoracic	37
Middle-thoracic	41
Lower-thoracic	12
Length (cm)
Median	5.91
Range	2-12
Stage (UICC 1997)
I	8
IIa	31
IIb	45
III	6

Table 2 Changes in serum TGFβ1 levels before and after RT

Groups	n	Mean value (ng/mL)	t value	P value
Control	15	9.53 ± 6.45	5.287	0.001
All patients
Before RT	90	41.13 ± 15.41
After RT	87	36.52 ± 19.26	1.365	0.072
Decreased group
Before RT	59	42.93 ± 14.37
After RT	59	25.98 ± 8.39	2.481	0.006
Increased group
Before RT	28	40.25 ± 16.29
After RT	28	51.61 ± 19.75	1.827	0.039

Table 3 Immediate response to RT and serum TGFβ1 levels (%)

TGFβ1	n	CR	PR	MR	NC
Decrease	59	32.20 (19/59)	50.85 (30/59)	13.56 (8/59)	3.39 (2/59)
Increase	28	21.43 (6/28)	46.43 (13/28)	25.00 (7/28)	7.14 (2/28)

Table 4 Characteristics of ten patients

Case	Location	Stage	Response to RT	Failure or metastasis	TGFβ1 (ng/mL)
					Before	After
1	Upper	III	NC	Lymph nodes M	30.10	42.80
2	Middle	IIb	NC	Lymph nodes M	51.95	67.65
3	Upper	IIa	PR	Lymph nodes M	18.60	38.20
4	Upper	III	PR	Lymph nodes and bone M	25.93	28.73
5	Middle	III	PR	Trachea M	29.45	29.55
6	Lower	IIa	PR	Regional failure	23.05	27.18
7	Middle	IIa	PR	Regional failure	40.68	19.88
8	Middle	IIb	PR	Regional failure	30.08	62.65
9	Upper	I	CR	Regional failure	40.73	49.03
10	Upper	I	PR	Lymph nodes M	13.00	32.65