Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of DR-70 immunoassay and its combination with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) measurement for detecting lung malignancies. METHODS: Serum concentrations of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and DR-70 were quantitatively assessed using electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in 110 patients diagnosed with primary lung cancer, 48 patients with pulmonary benign lesions, and 164 healthy subjects. RESULTS: Serum levels of both DR-70 and CEA showed statistically significant differences between lung cancer patients and healthy controls (p < 0.001). The study found that the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area under the curve (AUC), for DR-70 alone were 71.8%, 84.2%, 70.5%, 85.7%, and 0.836, respectively, which was superior to the values of 62.7%, 68.3%, 49.6%, 78.6%, 0.689 for CEA alone. The values for the combination of DR-70 and CEA were 87.3, 55.7%, 50.0%, 89.8%, and 0.846. The combination method significantly improved the sensitivity, NPV and AUC while concurrently reducing specificity and PPV, compared to DR-70 or CEA alone. CONCLUSION: Individual serum DR-70 testing and the combined DR-70+CEA panel exhibited robust diagnostic efficacy in lung adenocarcinoma detection.