Gemma V Brierley, Kim YC Fung, Leanne Purins, Ilka K Priebe, Bruce Tabor, Trevor Lockett, Edouard Nice, Peter Gibbs, Jeanne Tie, Paul McMurrick, James Moore, Andrew Ruszkiewicz, Anthony Burgess and Leah J Cosgrove
The Wnt antagonist Dickkopf-3 (Dkk-3) has been implicated in several stages of tumour development in a wide
range of human cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the usefulness of serum Dkk-3 levels as a
diagnostic biomarker for CRC has yet to be determined. In this study we used an ELISA immunoassay to examine
serum Dkk-3 protein levels in a retrospective cohort of CRC patients (n = 89) and age, gender matched controls (n
= 46). The median concentration of Dkk-3 was significantly (p = 0.0003) lower in CRC patient serum samples (29.3
ng/ml, range 10.4 – 67.8 ng/ml) when compared to control serum samples (36.8 ng/ml, range 20.7 – 67.4 ng/ml).
Receiver operating characteristic analysis demonstrated at 90% specificity, serum Dkk-3 levels distinguished CRC
patients with 36% sensitivity (AUC = 0.69, 95% CI 0.60 – 0.78).
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