Study of Serum Levels of Stem Cell Factor in Patients with Bladder Cancer

Stem cell factor (SCF) has recently been identified as a multi-potential growth factor that acts on early different progenitor cells of various lineages and triggers its biologic effects by binding to its receptor, c-Kit. The main aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of SCF in bladder cancer patients, and its possible relation with clinical course of disease. The serum SCF level was determined in bladder cancer patients, as our subject cases. The study group consisted of 35 bladder cancer patients and 35 healthy individuals as controls. The samples were prepared in two separated times, before operation and 23 months after surgery. The achieved data were compared with serum SCF level in healthy controls. In addition, we tested relationship of it with cancer stage and grade as well as with CBC parameters. Serum SCF was measured, using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) kit. Serum SCF levels in bladder cancer patients were not significantly different from those of healthy controls (p=0.5). Furthermore, in bladder cancer cases, the preoperative and postoperative serum SCF levels were not significantly different (p=0.889). Serum SCF levels were not associated with pathological indicatory, including cancer stage and grade, as well as with CBC parameters. According to the results, it is suggested that serum SCF levels were not significantly different from that in healthy controls, besides serum SCF levels were not associated with cancer stage and grade as well as CBC parameters. In this way, SCF may not be used as a remarkable predictor of bladder cancer recurrence and pathological indicator.