Serum CD26 levels in patients with gastric cancer: A novel potential diagnostic marker

Recent studies have identified CD26/dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) as a gene that affects the invasiveness of many tumor cells and it is consistently associated with cancer. A deficiency in solubilized CD26 was reported in total homogenates of tumors of colon, kidney, lung and liver. On the contrary, cell-surface CD26 expression has been correlated with disease aggressiveness of T and B cell lymphomas and leukemia's, follicular cell-derived thyroid carcinomas and basal cell carcinomas, while to the best of our knowledge no study has investigated the role of serum CD26 in gastric cancer.