Introduction/Background Endometrial cancer is currently the most common gynaecological cancer. The number of cases of this cancer is rapidly increasing in high-income countries, which is related to the increasing number of obese patients, as well as the aging population. It is relevant to find new diagnostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer. This study aimed to investigate whether NT (neurotensin), TSP-2 (thrombospondin 2) and NRP1 (neuropilin 1) could be considered as new useful markers for diagnosis of endometrial cancer.

Methodology 93 women diagnosed with endometrial cancer (EC) and 66 patients with non-cancerous endometrial lesions (NCEL) were included in this study. The preoperative plasma NT, TSP-2 and NRP1 levels were determined by a enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (SunRed Biotechnology, Shanghai) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Statistical analysis was performed using Statistica 13.3 software. The following statistical methods were used to evaluate the collected research material: statistical description and the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test of significance. A diagnostic test based on the ROC curve was also used.

Results Median serum levels of NT and NRP1 were significantly higher in the EC group compared to NCEL (for NT p = 0.000000; for NRP1 p = 0.000004). The median serum concentration of TSP-2 was statistically non-significantly higher in the EC group compared to NCEL (p = 0.6787), so this protein was not further statistically calculated. The cut-off level of NT was set at 275.43 pmol/L with the sensitivity of 94.62% and specificity of 59.09% (AUC = 0.83, p < 0.000001). The cut-off level of NRP was set at 30.37 ng/mL with the sensitivity of 81.72% and specificity of 57.58% (AUC = 0.71, p = 0.000004).

Conclusion These results suggest that both NT and NRP1 could be potential biomarkers in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer, but nevertheless further studies are needed to confirm the findings.

Disclosures There is no potential conflict of interest to report.