Serum decoy receptor 3 is a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients with colorectal cancer

Background: Decoy receptor 3 (DcR3), a decoy receptor against Fas ligand belonging to the tumor necrosis factor receptor super-family, is over-expressed in types of tumor. The aim of this study was to explore the expression level of DcR3 and investigated its diagnostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Quantitative Real-time-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot were performed to determine the expression of serum DcR3 at mRNA and protein level in CRC samples and healthy controls, respectively. Chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between DcR3 expression and clinical features. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was established to evaluate the diagnostic value of DcR3 in CRC. Results: The relative expression of serum DcR3 was increased in CRC patients compared with the matched healthy controls both at mRNA and protein level. The high serum DcR3 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and TNM stage. ROC curve showed that DcR3 had a high diagnostic value with an AUC of 0.912 corresponding with a sensitivity of 78.8% and a specificity of 91.2%. Conclusion: The detection of DcR3 levels in the serum might serve as a new tumor biomarker in the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis of CRC.