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Updated: May 26, 2026
MicroRNA Based Liquid Biopsy: The Experience of the Plasma miRNA Signature Classifier (MSC) for Lung Cancer Screening
Published on: October 26, 2017
Plasma biomarkers distinguish non-small cell lung cancer from asthma and differ in men and women
Elzbieta Izbicka1, Robert T Streeper, Joel E Michalek
1Cancer Prevention and Cure Ltd, 12000 Network Blvd., Suite B-200, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA. eizbicka.g4@gmail.com
Background:
Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of deaths caused by cancer worldwide. A diagnostic test for LC is needed for monitoring high-risk populations.
Patients And Methods:
Fifty-seven markers were measured using multiplex immunoassays of plasma of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); (245 men, 114 women, 1 unknown), asthma (67 men, 111 women, 2 unknown) and of healthy controls (165 men, 122 women, 1 unknown). Mass spectrometry was used for biomarker discovery. A support vector machine (SVM) was used for data analysis.
Results:
When all biomarkers and both genders were co-analyzed, SVM classified NSCLC and asthma with an accuracy of 0.94. Restricting to NSCLC versus healthy using best subsets of variables (males: epidermal growth factor (EGF), interleukin-8 (IL-8), soluble Fas (sFas), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1); females: EGF, soluble cluster of differentiation 40 (sCD40) ligand, IL-8) yielded sensitivity and specificity of 1. Expression of eleven mass spectrometric biomarkers differed between pathologies.
Conclusion:
Significant inter-pathology and gender differences between biomarkers may improve diagnosis of LC.
