Combining serum miRNAs, CEA, and CYFRA21-1 with imaging and clinical features to distinguish benign and malignant pulmonary nodules: a pilot study

Abstract

Background

Our study was designed to improve the accuracy of determining whether pulmonary nodules are benign or malignant.

Methods

We evaluated the clinical and imaging features and serum markers: neuron specific enolase (NSE), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin fragment antigen 21–1 (CYFRA 21–1), miRNA-21-5p, and miR-574-5pof in 39 patients with pathology information. Factors that differed significantly between those with benign versus malignant pulmonary nodules were used to establish a prediction model for identifying malignant nodules.

Results

The studied nodules were 51.3% malignant and 48.7% benign. Age, smoking status, nodule diameter, history of emphysema, vascular sign, burr sign, CYFRA21-1, CEA, miRNA-21-5p, and miRNA-574-5p differed significantly between the benign and malignant nodule groups. Serum levels of CYRFA21-1 and CEA could be used to distinguish between malignant and benign nodules with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 80.0%, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 84.2%, and an area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of 0.863. Using the serum levels of miRNA-21-5p and miRNA-574-5p, the PPV was 55%, the NPV was 84.2%, and the AUC was 0.797. When all four serum markers were combined, the PPV was 80%, the NPV was 89.5%, and the AUC was 0.921. We established a prediction model for malignant nodules, including clinical features, imaging features, and serum markers. In cross-validation, the ratio of discriminant conformance was 95%.

Conclusions

Serum levels of miRNA-21-5p and miRNA-574-5p are significantly higher in patients with malignant nodules than in patients with benign nodules and are potential serum biomarkers. Our prediction model could improve malignant nodule diagnosis.

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