NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Four proteins in the bloodappear to be useful in helping to establish a diagnosis of lungcancer, North Carolina-based researchers report in the Journalof Clinical Oncology.
Lead investigator Dr. Edward F. Patz, Jr., told ReutersHealth that his group believes that a combination of thesebiomarkers may be helpful in determining the probability oflung cancer in patients whose diagnosis can't be determinate byimaging studies.
Patz and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center,Durham note that currently there is no blood test for lungcancer, but blood biomarkers could be "enormously valuable."
In an effort to develop appropriate biomarkers, theresearchers investigated six serum proteins and found thatfour, collectively, were promising -- carcinoembryonic antigen,retinol binding protein, alpha-1-antitrypsin, and squamous cellcarcinoma antigen.
The team examined blood samples from 50 patients with newlydiagnosed lung cancer and 50 "controls" without lung cancer. Avalidation set of 49 patients and 48 controls were alsoinvestigated.
Measurement of the four protein markers correctlyclassified all of the patients and controls at least 75 percentof the time.
The researchers used a "classification tree" to help themdetermine the probability of cancer based on protein levels."People whose samples landed in one of three bins at the bottomof the tree had a 90-percent chance of having cancer," saidPatz in a statement. "Other bins indicated risks as low as 10percent."
Patz concluded that "additional trials will help us refinethe role of this panel in diagnosing patients with lungcancer."
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, December 10, 2007.
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