Abstract
BACKGROUND: The incidence rate of lung cancer in Xuanwei has been continuously increasing in recent years, and it also features high incidence across all age groups and high mortality rates among female lung cancer patients. Therefore, the search for more stable biomarkers for the diagnosis of Xuanwei lung cancer holds tremendous clinical application prospects. This study aims to explore the clinical application value of these four microRNAs (miRNAs) individually and in combination with traditional lung cancer tumor markers in the detection and diagnosis of Xuanwei lung cancer. METHODS: By detecting the expression levels of four miRNAs and five traditional lung cancer tumor markers in the serum of 45 Xuanwei lung cancer patients and healthy physical examination participants, the Logistic regression model was employed to comprehensively evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic efficacy, and other relevant statistical indicators of the four miRNAs in the diagnosis of Xuanwei lung cancer. RESULTS: Among the individual miRNAs, miR-4646-5p and miR-3654 showed significant differences in expression levels between the Xuanwei lung cancer group and the control group (P<0.05). miR-3654 demonstrated the best diagnostic performance with a sensitivity of 86.7%, specificity of 82.2%, and an area under the curve of 0.847. Combining miR-3654 with miR-4646-5p and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) resulted in the highest diagnostic efficacy for Xuanwei lung cancer, with a sensitivity of 73.3%, specificity of 93.3%, area under the curve of 0.901, and a positive predictive value of 91.7%. CONCLUSIONS: Among the four miRNAs, serum miR-3654 exhibits the best diagnostic efficacy for Xuanwei lung cancer. Combined with miR-4646-5p and CEA, its diagnostic value for Xuanwei lung cancer can be effectively enhanced, making it a promising screening indicator for Xuanwei lung cancer.