Diagnostic Value of Serum miR-182, miR-183, miR-210, and miR-126 Levels in Patients with Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Blood-circulating miRNAs could be useful as a biomarker to detect lung cancer early. We investigated the serum levels of four different miRNAs in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and assessed their diagnostic value for NSCLC. Serum samples from 112 NSCLC patients and 104 controls (20 current smokers without lung cancer, 23 pneumonia patients, 21 gastric cancer patients, and 40 healthy controls) were subjected to Taqman probe-based quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The data showed that the serum levels of miR-182, miR-183, and miR-210 were significantly upregulated and that the miR-126 level was significantly downregulated in NSCLC patients, compared with the healthy controls. Further receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the serum miR-182, miR-183, miR-210, or miR-126 level could serve as a diagnostic biomarker for NSCLC early detection, with a high sensitivity and specificity. The combination of these four miRNAs with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) further increased the diagnostic value, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.965 (sensitivity, 81.3%; specificity, 100.0%; and accuracy, 90.8%) using logistic regression model analysis. In addition, the relative levels of serum miR-182, miR-183, miR-210, and miR-126 could distinguish NSCLC or early-stage NSCLC from current tobacco smokers without lung cancer and pneumonia or gastric cancer patients with a high sensitivity and specificity. Data from the current study validated that the four serum miRNAs could serve as a tumor biomarker for NSCLC early diagnosis.