Exosomal 3'tiRNA-PheGAA and interleukin-6 as novel biomarkers for non-invasive detection of NSCLC

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. However, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of commonly used tumor markers, such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), remain limited. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of serum exosomal 3'tiRNA-PheGAA and interleukin-6 (IL-6), alone and in combination with conventional tumor markers, for the detection of NSCLC.

Peripheral blood samples were collected from 110 patients with NSCLC and healthy controls. Serum exosomes were isolated, and the expression of 3'tiRNA-PheGAA was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Serum levels of CEA, CYFRA21-1, and IL-6 were determined by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). The diagnostic performance of individual and combined biomarkers was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Serum levels of 3'tiRNA-PheGAA, IL-6, CEA, and CYFRA21-1 were significantly higher in NSCLC patients than in healthy controls (P < 0.0001). ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) values for 3'tiRNA-PheGAA and IL-6 were 0.680 and 0.898, respectively. The combination of 3'tiRNA-PheGAA and IL-6 increased the AUC to 0.926, while the four-marker panel (3'tiRNA-PheGAA, IL-6, CEA, and CYFRA21-1) achieved the highest diagnostic performance with an AUC of 0.971.

Serum exosomal 3'tiRNA-PheGAA and IL-6 may serve as promising non-invasive biomarkers for NSCLC diagnosis, and their combination with conventional tumor markers significantly improves diagnostic accuracy.