Retrospective Study to Determine Diagnostic Utility of 6 Commonly Used Lung Cancer Biomarkers Among Han and Uygur Population in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China

Early diagnosis was the main way to improve the survival rate of lung cancer patients. At present, the methods to diagnose lung cancer were varied, but early diagnosis of lung cancer was still difficult. In experimental and clinical studies, lung cancer related tumor markers were helpful to the early diagnosis of lung cancer. So far, there were many studies about lung cancer related tumor markers in China, but the subjects in these studies were almost the Han population. There were few studies about the Uygur population. Xinjiang was a multi-ethnic region in China, the ratios of Han and Uygur population were 40% and 45%, respectively. Xinjiang also was a high incidence area of lung cancer in China. The purpose of this study was to research the application of 6 tumor markers in Uygur and Han lung cancer patients in XinJiang, China. The study collected 342 cases who were diagnosed as lung cancer in Tumor Hospital Affiliated to XinJiang Medical University from May 2012 to December 2012. Serum concentrations of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), cytokeratin fragment 19 (CYFRA21-1), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), precursor of gastrin-releasing peptide (Pro-GRP), and neuron-specific enolase (NSE) were tested for every patient before radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery. The serum concentrations of SCC, CYFRA21-1, CEA, CA125, and Pro-GRP were assayed using the micro-particle luminescence analysis testing by the Abbott ARHCITECT i2000SR immunoanalyzer. NSE was assayed by the electrochemical luminescence analysis testing using Roche Cobas E601 electrochemical luminescence analyzer. Serum levels of SCC were different between 2 ethnic populations, smoking should be the influence factor to create the difference. Cluster analysis showed that the NSE and Pro-GRP were helpful to identify small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and CEA, CA125, SCC, CYFRA21-1 were beneficial to diagnose non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The compare of diagnosis value about serum tumor markers also proved the result of cluster analysis. No matter SCLC or NSCLC, the positives rate of all tumor markers were increasing as clinical stage advancing. Pro-GRP had higher positive rate than NSE in limited stage of SCLC. CA125 had the highest positive rate in I and II stage of NSCLC, and CYFRA21-1 had the highest positive rate in III and IV stage of NSCLC. CEA and CA125 were beneficial to diagnose adenocarcinoma, CYFRA21-1, and SCC identified squamous cell cancer better. Only SCC level was higher in Han population than Uygur population because of the differences of smoking constituent ratio between 2 populations. So, it could be unified to research the application value of the 6 indicators for the Han and Uygur population. Then, we suggested a primary diagnostic utility of 6 commonly by lung cancer biomarkers in both the Han and Uygur populations in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China.