Effects of palliative radiotherapy and bisphosphonate usage on bone turnover marker levels in cancer patients with osteolytic bone metastases
Fatih Göksel1
, Müge Akmansu2, Ertuğrul Şentürk2, Fatih Demircioğlu3
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr. Abdurrahman Yurtaslan Ankara Oncology Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
2Department of Radiation Oncology, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
3Department of Radiation Oncology, Kartal Dr. Lütfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Amino-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen, amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen, bone turnover marker, osteolytic bone metastasis, palliative radiotherapy
Abstract
Objectives: In this study, we aimed to investigate the bone turnover marker levels according to bisphosphonate usage and radiotherapy (RT) in cancer patients with metastases in osteolytic pattern.
Patients and methods: A total of 52 patients (13 males, 39 females; median age: 52 years; range, 37 to 78 years) treated with RT for osteolytic bone metastases between April 2005 and April 2006 were retrospectively analyzed. Bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP), amino-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen (NTX-I), amino-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP), osteocalcin (OC), deoxypyridinoline (DPD), pyridinoline (PYD), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatinine, calcium (Ca), phosphate (P), magnesium (Mg), and 24-h urine Ca levels were measured in blood and urine before the initiation of RT, six weeks and six months after RT.
Results: A decrease in BAP, PINP, and creatinine levels was observed after RT (Week 6 p=0.006, Month 6 p=0.008). Sixteen patients who already used bisphosphonate before RT were excluded from statistical calculation. The remaining 36 patients who were treated with bisphosphonate after the first blood test were evaluated separately. In this group of patients, BAP, PINP, NTX, creatinine, and Ca levels significantly increased at six weeks after RT. The PINP and creatinine values significantly decreased at six months after RT. The variation between two different RT arms was assessed with repeated measures variance analysis. There was a statistically significant difference for NTX, OC, and creatinine levels between the first and second measurements.
Conclusion: Radiotherapy is an effective method in the treatment of osteolytic bone metastases. Bone turnover markers can provide an objective evaluation on RT response and parallel to imaging modalities criteria for evaluation. Bisphosphonates may alter the levels of these indicators. However, in this study, there were no statistically significant differences between the levels of markers for two different RT schedules.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.