Alpha₁-antitrypsin and survival in pancreatic cancer

The association between serum levels of alpha₁-antitrypsin (a₁AT) at the time of diagnosis and survival was studied in a group of 44 patients with confirmed pancreas cancer. All 44 patients were followed until time of death, which occurred in all cases from pancreas cancer, with a median time of 3 months and a range of 0.5 to 16 months. Cox's proportional hazards model was utilized in the analysis controlling for sex, age and tobacco smoking. Males, older patients and smokers have higher fatality rates, but none of these relations was statistically significant. By contrast, there was a statistically highly significant association of increased levels of serum a₁AT, at the time of diagnosis of the cancer of pancreas, with shorter survival; patients with serum a₁AT higher by 100mg/100ml had a 57% higher fatality rate. These results indicate that serum a₁AT represents a clinically interesting prognostic factor in pancreas cancer.