O.N. Kleimenova1, A.A. Alferov2, N.V. Lyubimova3, A.A. Mitrofanov4, A.Kh. Bekyashev5, D.V. Rogozhin6, E.S. Gershtein7

1–3,7 Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education «Russian University of Medicine» of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Moscow, Russia)

3–7 Federal State Budgetary Institution «N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology» of the Ministry of Health of Russia (Moscow, Russia)

1 olga_kleimnova@mail.ru, 2 aleksandr.alferov@yahoo.com, 3 biochimia@yandex.ru, 4 mitrofanov-aa@list.ru, 5 abekyashev@gmail.com, 6 pathol.777@mail.ru, 7 esgershtein@gmail.com

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and common form of malignant brain tumors, in whose diagnostics various neurospecific proteins including GFAP and S100 are applied.

The aim of this study is a comparative analysis of of GFAP and S100 content in blood serum of patients with various brain pathologies and assessment of their role in the diagnostics and prognosis of primary glioblastoma of the brain.

We examined 174 (99 male and 75 female) patients with primary IV malignancy grade glioblastoma of the brain aged from 18 to 82 years; 114 patients (60 men and 54 women) with brain metastases of various solid tumors: 38 lung cancer, 35 breast cancer, 18 kidney cancer, 13 colon cancer, cervical cancer (n=3), ovarian cancer (n=2), pancreatic cancer (n=3), bladder cancer (n=1), stomach cancer (n=1), aged from 26 to 75 years who were examined and treated at the N.N. Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology in the period from 2016 to 2023. The pathological comparison group consisted of 20 patients with Parkinson's disease and 30 with multiple sclerosis of the same gender and age. The control group consisted of 41 healthy donors (24 men and 17 women) aged from 19 to 80 years. GFAP and S100 concentrations were determined in blood serum before treatment using standard ELISA kits “Human GFAP ELISA” (Biovendor, Czech Republic) and CanAg (USA) correspondingly.

Serum GFAP was detected in 74.1% of patients with primary glioblastoma, 15.8% patients with brain metastases of solid tumors, and in 9.8% of control healthy donors cases. At the same time, in the control group, the median GFAP content was significantly lower compared to that in glioblastoma and in patients with metastases of various solid tumors in the brain. S100 protein was detected in all samples studied. No statistically significant differences between serum concentrations of S100 between any of the studied groups were found. GFAP, unlike S100, showed a moderately good diagnostic value for primary glioblastoma of the brain (AUC=0.857; CI: 0.807-0.906; p<0.0001). The overall survival of patients with primary IV malignancy grade glioblastoma of the brain was significantly higher in patients with zero serum GFAP level than in those with any positive concentration of this marker. This difference was the most pronounced in women and in patients below 50 years of age.

Currently there is a need to search for new markers for non-invasive diagnostics of primary brain glioblastomas. Among such biomarkers are the neurospecific proteins GFAP and S100, whose increase is observed in various diseases of the central nervous system, that makes an accurate diagnosis difficult. However, the soluble form of GFAP, unlike S100, is considered a more sensitive marker for the diagnostics of primary glioblastoma of the brain. And this statement was confirmed by the results of the present study.

Kleimenova O.N., Alferov A.A., Lyubimova N.V., Mitrofanov A.A., Bekyashev A.Kh., Rogozin D.V., Gershtein E.S. Clinical and laboratory significance of GFAP and S100 content in blood serum of patients with various brain pathologies. Technologies of Living Systems. 2025. V. 22. № 4. Р. 22-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j20700997-202504-03 (In Russian).

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