{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T23:44:43Z","timestamp":1783035883677,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781654400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Colorectal cancer (CRC) stage plays a major role in treatment decisions and prognosis. This study investigates whether Serum Ferritin can improve CRC staging and compares its performance to standard markers like carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We analyzed data from 419 CRC patients at Jiujiang College Affiliated Hospital, dividing them into early-stage (I\u2013II, 245 patients) and late-stage (III\u2013IV, 174 patients) groups. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the usefulness of serum ferritin compared with traditional markers.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Serum Ferritin was significantly higher in late-stage CRC (\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&lt;\u00a00.001). ROC analysis showed Serum Ferritin had a numerically higher area under the curve (AUC) (0.795) compared to CA 19-9 (0.745) and CEA (0.744) at distinguishing between early and advanced stages. The combined model yielded an AUC of 0.890.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Serum Ferritin could be a useful addition to CRC staging, showing a numerically higher AUC than current markers. Adding it to clinical practice may help refine stage assessment and guide treatment decisions. This study supports its potential as a supplementary tool for stage assessment in CRC management.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.21449","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T08:55:35Z","timestamp":1781686535000},"page":"e21449","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Serum ferritin as a potential biomarker for distinguishing advanced-stage colorectal cancer: a retrospective cohort study"],"prefix":"10.7717","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Chuanpei","family":"Cao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiujiang College Affiliated Hospital, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jiangxi Dermatology Hospital, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 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