A combination of four serum miRNAs for screening of lung adenocarcinoma

Serum microRNAs (miRNAs), with their noticeable stability and unique expression pattern in patients with various diseases, are robust novel non-invasive biomarkers for cancer detection. The objective of this study was to identify specific serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers for screening lung adenocarcinoma. The study was divided into a screening phase, training phase, and validation phase. The expression of 46 serum miRNAs from lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patients and healthy controls (HCs) were examined in the screening phase. The expression of the most dysregulated miRNAs was further verified in training (30 LUAD vs. 30 HCs) and validation (82 LUAD vs. 90 HCs) phases. Seven serum miRNAs (miR-142-5p, miR-203a-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p, miR-150-5p, miR-486-5p and miR-146a-5p) in LUAD patients were significantly dysregulated compared to those in HCs. Their ability to diagnose lung cancer was also significant, with miR-142-5p (AUC = 0.743), miR-409-3p (AUC = 0.755), miR-223-3p (AUC = 0.828) and miR-146a-5p (AUC = 0.745) being more prominent. The combined use of these four could enhance diagnostic value (AUC = 0.933). Our findings define a distinct miRNA expression profile in the serum of LUAD patients. The four-miRNA panel (miR-142-5p, miR-409-3p, miR-223-3p and 146a-5p) may be considered as a novel, non-invasive biomarker for LUAD early detection.