Prognostic value of serum α-HBDH levels in patients with lung cancer

BACKGROUND: The purpose of our study is to investigate the expression level and prognostic value of serum α-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (α-HBDH) in lung cancer (LC) patients. METHOD: LC patients treated in the Department of Oncology, Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital from January 2014 to December 2016 were included in this study, all of whom underwent serological detection of α-HBDH prior to admission, and were enrolled in follow-up 5-year survival. Comparing the differences between high group and normal groups based on α-HBDH and LDH expression via clinicopathological parameters and laboratory data. Univariate and multivariate regression and overall survival (OS) were analyzed to explore whether elevated α-HBDH was an independent risk factor for LC, compared to LDH. RESULTS: Multivariate regression analysis showed that age (P = 0.018), liver metastasis (P = 0.011), α-HBDH (P = 0.015), and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (P = 0.031) were independent prognostic factors affecting OS in LC patients. The overall diagnostic efficacy of α-HBDH (AUC = 0.887) was higher than that of LDH (AUC = 0.709) in the ROC curve. The sensitivity was significantly higher of α-HBDH (sensitivity: 76.06%, specificity: 94.87%) compared with LDH (sensitivity: 49.30%, specificity: 94.87%). The median of OS was more significant in the high-α-HBDH group (6.4 months) than in the normal-α-HBDH group (12.7 months) (P = 0.023). The median of OS was significant in the high-LDH (> 245 U/L) group at 5.8 months and 12.0 months in the normal-LDH (≤ 245 U/L) group (P = 0.068). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated expression of α-HBDH may indicate a poor prognosis of LC patients. It has a higher sensitivity than LDH and can be used as a potential early biomarker and an independent risk factor predicting the prognosis of LC survival. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12957-023-02965-3.