Serum chemokine network correlates with chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer

Inflammation plays an important role in the microenvironment of lung cancer. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of inflammatory biomarker networks with chemotherapies for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

The sera of healthy non-smokers (n = 14) and patients with NSCLC (n = 50), 36 with adenocarcinoma and 14 with squamous cell carcinoma, were collected. Healthy patients were untreated, while those with NSCLC were either chemotherapy-naïve or had received one and two courses of chemotherapy. The cytokine concentrations were measured using multiplexed cytokine immunoassays. The clinical informatics was scored with a Digital Evaluation Score System (DESS) to assess the severity of the patients. All patients completed follow-up for up to 2 years.

Among the 40 mediators measured, 13 significantly differed between patients with lung cancer and healthy controls, while 18 differed between untreated patients and those with stage IV adenocarcinoma who had undergone the first and second chemotherapy courses. The protein network of cytokines in NSCLC after multiple courses of chemotherapy was similar to that of normal persons. MIP-3α is the most crucial biomarker for predicting survival rates in NSCLC patients.

Our data identify an NSCLC-specific profile of inflammatory mediators that may be useful for cancer sub-classification, as well as the evaluation of therapeutic effects and overall survival.