Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) and neuron specific enolase (NSE) have become hotspot of tumor markers for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and the aim of this study is to evaluate and compare the diagnostic value of serum ProGRP and NSE in SCLC by meta-analysis. METHODS: all the English and Chinese literatures for differential diagnosis of SCLC by serum ProGRP and NSE were collected. Sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio were pooled using random-effect model. Summary receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum ProGRP and NSE. RESULTS: ten studies were included in the meta-analysis, with a total of 2 536 cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio and diagnostic odds ratio of ProGRP in the diagnosis of SCLC were 0.70, 0.93, 11.57, 0.32 and 36.45, and as for NSE those were 0.61, 0.90, 5.67, 0.45 and 13.08, respectively. The Q* value of ProGRP and NSE were 0.804 2 and 0.723 2. There was no statistical significance between the two. CONCLUSIONS: comparing with NSE, ProGRP has higher specificity and similar discrimination ability, so ProGRP might be a better index in the diagnosis of SCLC.