Abstract
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.