title: Diagnostic value of pro-gastrin-releasing peptide for small cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lung cancer, of which 15%-20% is small cell lung cancer, is the leading cause of cancer mortality and shows a high incidence worldwide. While pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) has been reported as a predictive diagnostic factor, it has not been widely accepted because of inconsistent conclusions. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate ProGRP as the diagnostic standard for small cell lung cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  All published studies on ProGRP in the diagnosis of small cell lung cancer from January 1994 to April of 2010 were retrieved. By measuring methodological qualities, 11 papers were selected for this study. The overall diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were used to evaluate ProGRP as the diagnostic standard for small cell lung cancer using Meta DiSc statistical software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 5146 subjects included in this meta-analysis. The sensitivity and specificity (95% confidence interval) of ProGRP was 0.716 (0.688-0.743) and 0.921 (0.909-0.932), respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve of ProGRP was 0.9236. The index of Q* was 0.8575.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ProGRP has better sensitivity and high specificity as an auxiliary indicator for the diagnosis of small cell lung cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hui-jie
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Chu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yi-xi
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Bao
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000097:blood*; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000097:blood; D012372:ROC Curve; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000097:blood; D055752:Small Cell Lung Carcinoma / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C087079:pro-gastrin-releasing peptide (31-98); D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase