The invention concerns a kit for the detection of protein ESM-1 in a sample, comprising: a) a first antibody specifically binding to the N-terminal region of protein ESM-1 contained between the amino acid in position 20 and the amino acid in position 78 of the amino acid sequence of this protein; and b) a second antibody specifically binding to the C-terminal region contained between the amino acid in position 79 and the amino acid in position 184 of the amino acid sequence of protein ESM-1.