Early Detection of Lung Cancer in Serum by a Panel of MicroRNA Biomarkers

Introduction: The objective of the study was to develop a panel of microRNAs (miRNAs) as highly sensitive and specific biomarkers for lung cancer early detection.

Materials And Methods: The study contained 2 phases: first, preliminary marker selection based on previous reports on the serum of 24 early stage lung cancer patients and 24 healthy control subjects by TaqMan probe-based real-time reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR); and second, validation of miRNA markers on 94 early stage lung cancer, 48 stage III to IV lung cancer, and 111 healthy control serum samples.

Results: A total of 3 miRNAs (miR-125a-5p, miR-25, and miR-126) were selected for further analysis in this study. The combination of the 3 miRNAs could produce 0.936 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value in distinguishing early stage lung cancer patients from control subjects with 87.5% sensitivity and 87.5% specificity, respectively. The diagnostic value of the miRNA panel in an independent set of lung cancer patients confirmed the sensitivity and specificity.

Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the panel of miRNA biomarkers had the potential for the early detection of lung cancer.