Abstract: Objective To investigate the changes of serum anterior gradient-2 （AGR2） in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer （NSCLC） before and after chemotherapy and the relationship of it with prognosis. Methods From June 2013 to September 2015， 35 patients with NSCLC were treated with gemcitabine and cisplatin regimen （treatment group）. Meanwhile， 20 healthy volunteers were enrolled as control group. The level of serum AGR2 was detected by ELISA in treatment group before and after chemotherapy and control group. The relationship of serum AGR2 with prognosis and clinical pathologic features was analyzed. Results The level of serum AGR2 before chemotherapy in treatment group was （15.63±5.20） ng／ml， higher than （3.65±1.38） ng／ml in control group （P＜0.01）. Serum level of AGR2 after chemotherapy was （8.56±2.66） ng／ml， significantly lower than the level before chemotherapy in NSCLC patients （P＜0.01）. The serum levels of AGR2 in NSCLC patients before and after chemotherapy were closely related to tumor size and clinical stages （P＜0.05）. Cox proportional hazards regression models showed that the level of serum AGR2 before chemotherapy was an independent factor of influencing the survival time.
Conclusion The level of serum AGR2 may have potential clinical value to assess the therapeutic efficacy of chemotherapy and prognosis in patients of NSCLC.