Only biomarkers help early diagnosis of lung cancer

Scientists have identified a non-invasive diagnostic marker that can change current practices in the detection and diagnosis of certain types. High levels of protein 4 (CKAP4) related to cytoskeleton are determined in the blood of lung cancer patients.

In the study published in The American Journal of Pathology, researchers from Kitasato University in Japan found that CKAP4 content was significantly higher in patients with lung cancer than healthy people.

Furthermore, they also found an increase in CKAP4 content in patients with stage I disease. This makes it a non-invasive diagnostic marker that can change current practice in the diagnosis and treatment of certain types. Lung cancer, including non-small cell lung cancer and squamous cell cancer and improves the patient's results.

CKAP4 content is significantly higher in patients with lung cancer than healthy people.

Lung cancer is associated with poor prognosis because most people with lung cancer are diagnosed only at an advanced stage.

Yuichi Sato from Kitasato University said: 'It is very important to identify the disease in the early stages when it can be treated with surgery. We need better biomarkers for early diagnosis. ' Biological markers of current lung cancer include epithelial carcinoma antigen (CEA), sialyl Lewis X antigen and squamous cell carcinogen antigen but sensitivity is not sufficient to detect the disease early.

The results of this study provide evidence that CKAP4 protein may be an early diagnostic marker for lung cancer. The researchers performed an island-phase protein sequence analysis using monoclonal antibodies designed as KU-Lu-1 antibodies in the blood of 271 cancer patients and 100 healthy people.

KU-Lu-1 only reacts to tumor cells and tumor fibroblasts in lung cancer tissue and does not react to normal lung tissue.

By using immunological precipitation and mass spectrometry, the researchers determined that KU-Lu-1 antibodies identified CKAP4 in lung cancer cells and tissues. In addition, a validation kit comprising samples from more than 100 patients with lung cancer and 38 healthy controls was also studied.