Serum heat shock protein 90α have an advantage in diagnosis of colorectal cancer at early stage

Aim: We investigated HSP90a as screening biomarker for early colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods & results: Seventy-seven CRC patients and 78 healthy controls were enrolled. Plasma HSP90a was significantly higher in CRC patients than in healthy controls (p < 0.05). levels were higher in late (stages III and IV) CRC than in early (stages I and II) CRC (p = 0.022). HSP90a conferred an advantage in the diagnosis of early CRC. Combination of HSP90a and carcinoembryonic antigen improved the diagnostic sensitivity (84.4%) and specificity (89.5%) for CRC (area under the curve: 0.968); for early CRC, the sensitivity was 82.5% and specificity was 89.5% (area under the curve: 0.955). Conclusion: HSP90 is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of early CRC.