title: Efficiency of serum copper/zinc ratio for differential diagnosis of patients with and without lung cancer.
abstract: We examined serum copper (Cu), serum zinc (Zn), and the serum copper/zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) in 162 patients. All of them were seen to have an abnormal shadow in the chest X-ray films, that is, 109 patients with lung cancer (LC) and 53 patients with no lung cancer (NLC). The mean Cu and Cu/Zn in LC patients were significantly higher than those in NLC patients (p < 0.05). In LC patients, Cu and Cu/Zn were higher and Zn was lower in advanced tumors than early ones. There was a significantly clear relation between Cu or Cu/Zn and the tumor (T) stages. When the relative risk (RR) of LC was estimated, it was seen that the higher Cu and Cu/Zn became, the higher RR became. Furthermore, we showed the sensitivity of the receiver operator characteristic of the test (ROC) curve for Cu, Cu/Zn, and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to diagnose LC, as explained in a paragraph of methods. The determinations of Cu, Zn, and Cu/Zn are simple and inexpensive. They also appear to have a great diagnostic value in determining the local invasion of LC and as a screening test in the high-risk patients for LC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuno
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawamoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsudomi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirakusa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kodama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen / Q000097:blood; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002272:Carcinoembryonic Antigen; D003300:Copper; D015032:Zinc