Significance of combined detection of LunX mRNA and tumor markers in diagnosis of lung carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the significance of combined detection of LunX mRNA, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and cytokeratin 21-1 fragment (CYFRA21-1) in clinical diagnosis of lung carcinoma.

METHODS

Based on the quantitative RT-PCR and chemiluminescence immunoassay, the expression levels of LunX mRNA, CEA, NSE, and CYFRA21-1 in 113 patients with lung carcinoma (case group) and 30 healthy participants (control group) were detected. Meantime, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the combination detection were also explored.

RESULTS

The positive rates of LunX mRNA in peripheral blood and CEA, NSE, and CYFRA21-1 in serum were significantly higher in case group than those in control group ((χ) (2)=17.295, 16.825, 19.148, and 17.450; P<0.05). There was no statistical significance when positive rate of LunX mRNA was evaluated among different pathological types ((χ) (2)=0.047, P>0.05). The positive rate of LunX mRNA in stage I + II, III, and IV had a significantly increasing tendency ((χ) (2)=10.565, 32.462, P<0.05). The positive rate of CYFRA21-1 was highest in squamous carcinoma (78.5%), the positive rate of NSE was highest in small cell carcinoma (86.7%), and the positive rate of CEA wag highest in lung adenocarcinoma (80.4%). The sensitivity and accuracy of the combination detection were 91.1% and 88.1%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The combined detection of LunX mRNA and tumor markers (TMs) including CEA, NSE, and CYFRA21-1 in peripheral blood is helpful to increase the diagnostic accuracy of lung cancer. Also, it can inform the pathological typing of lung carcinoma.