Identification of serum MiRNAs as candidate biomarkers for non-small cell lung cancer diagnosis

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the most common solid tumors worldwide and the leading cause of cancer-associated death. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is accounts for approximately 85% of all the lung cancers and lung squamous carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC) are the main subtypes of NSCLC. Early diagnose using serum biomarkers could improve the overall survival of patients. In this study, we aimed to identify miRNAs from serum with clinical utility in the diagnosis of NSCLC. METHODS: Ten patients with SCC, ten patients with ADC and five noncancerous individuals were enrolled in the screening cohort. miRNA expression levels in serum were measured by microarray analysis. Candidate miRNAs were validated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis in a validation cohort of 78 NSCLC patients and 44 noncancerous individuals. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess the diagnostic performance of serum miRNAs for NSCLC. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of the combination of markers. RESULTS: Six candidate miRNAs were differentially expressed between NSCLC patients and noncancerous individuals in the screening set (fold change > 2, p < 0.05). Among them, expression levels of miR-3149 and miR-4769.3p were confirmed to be significantly increased in tumor serum in the validation set. The area under the curve values of miR-3149 and miR-4769.3p in distinguishing NSCLC patients from noncancerous controls were 0.830 and 0.735, respectively. When combined with tumor markers CEA and Cyfra21-1, the joint diagnostic model increased the area under the curve to 0.898. CONCLUSION: Serum miRNAs miR-3149 and miR-4769.3p were up-regulated in NSCLC and may be potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of lung cancer. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12890-022-02267-6.