Lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, is most frequently detected through imaging tests. In this study, we investigated serum microRNAs (miRNAs) as a possible early screening tool for resectable lung cancer. First, we used serum samples from participants with and without lung cancer to comprehensively create 2588 miRNAs profiles; next, we established a diagnostic model based on the combined expression levels of two miRNAs (miR-1268b and miR-6075) in the discovery set (208 lung cancer patients and 208 non-cancer participants). The model displayed a sensitivity of 99% and specificity of 99% in the validation set (1358 patients and 1970 non-cancer participants) and exhibited high sensitivity regardless of histological type and pathological TNM stage of the cancer. Moreover, the diagnostic index markedly decreased after lung cancer resection. Thus, the model we developed has the potential to markedly improve screening for resectable lung cancer.

肺癌是全球癌症死亡的主要原因，最常通过影像学检测发现。在这项研究中，我们调查了血清microRNA（miRNA）作为可切除肺癌的一种可能的早期筛查工具。首先，我们使用了患有和不患有肺癌的受试者的血清样本来全面创建2588个miRNA谱；接下来，我们基于发现组中的两个miRNA（miR-1268b和miR-6075）的联合表达水平（208个肺癌患者和208个非癌症参与者）建立了诊断模型。该模型在验证组（1358名患者和1970名非癌症参与者）中显示出99％的敏感性和99％的特异性，并且无论癌症的组织学类型和病理TNM分期如何，均表现出高敏感性。此外，肺癌切除后的诊断指标明显降低。因此，我们开发的模型具有显着改善可切除肺癌筛查的潜力。