title: Value of serum marker HE4 in pulmonary carcinoma diagnosis.
abstract: An effective blood test is valuable to aid clinicians in making case management decisions. The present study was to analyze the value of four serum tumor markers for the diagnosis of pulmonary carcinoma. The case group consisted of 80 pulmonary carcinoma patients, which were compared to a control group of 30 patients with benign pulmonary disease and a control group of 30 healthy individuals. Serum levels of carcinoma embryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin protein fragment 21-1 (CYFRA21-1), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) were detected using electrochemiluminescence. Serum CEA, NSE, CYFRA21-1, and HE4 levels were significantly higher in pulmonary carcinoma patients than those in both control groups (P < 0.05). Serum CEA and HE4 levels were significantly higher in adenocarcinoma patients, while serum CYFRA21-1 levels were significantly higher in squamous cell carcinoma patients and serum NSE levels were significantly higher in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients (P < 0.05). Analysis of area-under-the-receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC) revealed that serum CYFRA21-1, CEA, and HE4 levels were valuable for squamous cell carcinoma, serum CEA and HE4 levels were valuable for adenocarcinoma, and serum NSE level was valuable for SCLC (P < 0.05). Serum CEA and HE4 levels of pulmonary carcinoma patients with metastasis were higher than those with TNM stage I-II or III-IV disease without metastasis. In brief, detection of serum HE4 levels may be useful in auxiliary diagnosis and evaluation of the progression of pulmonary carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University Yancheng 224001, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qin-Fang
authors.initials: QF
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University Yancheng 224001, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Wei
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University Yancheng 224001, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hong-Bing
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University Yancheng 224001, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wu-Hua
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Yancheng Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University Yancheng 224001, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ming-Zhong
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Sun
keywords: Carcinoma embryonic antigen; cytokeratin protein fragment 21-1; human epididymis 4; neuron specific enolase; pulmonary carcinoma; serum markers