Clinical usefulness of pentraxin 3 (PTX3) as a biomarker of acute pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer

Introduction
Increased concentrations of pentraxin 3 (PTX 3) were diagnosed in acute pancreatitis (AP) and in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Aim of the research
To assess of the clinical usefulness of PTX3 in the early differentiation of AP from PDAC.

Material and methods
The test group consisted of 125 patients with AP and 24 people with PDAC, as well as 52 healthy subjects. The following concentrations were tested in plasma: PTX3, C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and CA-19.9.

Results
The mean PTX3 concentration in the moderately-severe AP (MAP) or severe AP (SAP) equalled 16.53 ng/ml and was significantly higher in comparison with mild AP (9.60 ng/ml; p = 0.0007) and the control group (2.31 ng/ml). In the case of patients with PDAC, the mean concentration of PTX3 was 9.20 ng/ml and was significantly higher than in the control group (2.31 ng/ml); p < 0.0001. A significantly higher average CRP value of 100.37 mg/l and IL-6 91.65 pg/ml was also found in patients with PDAC compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). Tested pro-inflammatory cytokines were significantly higher in patients with MAP or SAP than in those with PDAC (p < 0.05). The ROC curve confirms the clear connection of PTX3 level and PDAC in comparison with the control group (p = 0.0001), relatively low sensitivity, and high specificity. However, the results were not significant enough to allow us to differentiate cancer from AP (p > 0.05).

Conclusions
Pentraxin 3 can be a marker in the prediction of the severe course of AP, but its clinical usefulness for the differentiation of PDAC was not confirmed.