Purpose: Overexpression of DJ-1 was associated with metastatic uveal melanoma (UM). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of serum DJ-1 as a biomarker for metastasis of uveal melanoma.
Methods: Serum DJ-1 levels were determined by ELISA assays in 27 patients with metastatic UM metastatic uveal melanoma and in 76 patients who were disease free for at least 10 years and 30 age- and sex-matched controls. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the feasibility of DJ-1 in detection of metastatic uveal melanoma.
Results: Serum DJ-1 levels were significantly higher in patients with metastatic UM compared with patients who were disease free for at least 10 years (P < 0.001) or with controls (P < 0.001). ROC curve for DJ-1 revealed an area under the curve of 86.3%, and when 3.350 ng/mL was used as the cutoff value, a sensitivity of 74.1% and a specificity of 94.3% were achieved. Comparison of DJ-1 and liver function tests (LFTs) ROC curves indicated that DJ-1 was superior to LFTs in detection of metastatic UM.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that DJ-1 might be a promising serum marker for monitoring metastatic uveal melanoma.