The aim of the present study was to determine whether serum high-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP) levels can be used to predict the differentiation of benign soft tissue tumors and soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and whether there are any links between increased hs-CRP levels and patients' characteristics. Serum samples were collected from 14 healthy subjects, 35 patients with benign soft tissue tumors and 60 patients with STS. The Hs-CRP levels in the patients with STS were statistically higher than those observed in patients with benign soft tissue tumors (p<0.0001) and control subjects (p<0.0001). There were no significant differences in the hs-CRP levels between patients with benign soft tissue tumors and control subjects (p=0.16). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, a value of 0.95 μg/ml was found to be an appropriate threshold for identifying patients at-risk for STS. The area under the curve was 0.747. The serum hs-CRP level exhibited a sensitivity and specificity STS of 50% and 94.3%, respectively, for identifying. The current analyses showed that an elevated hs-CRP level is associated with the presence of STS and may, therefore, be used as an additional marker for the differential diagnosis of soft tissue tumors.
Keywords: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein; biomarker; diagnosis; soft tissue tumor.