[Expression and Clinical Significance of Lipocalin-2 in the Serum of Lung Cancer Patients].

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is the highest incidence of cancer in the world, which seriously threatens human health. Early diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer is particularly important for the survival of lung cancer patients. Serum tumor markers have been widely used as an important method for early diagnosis of tumor. However, there are few early diagnostic markers for lung cancer. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the expression level of Lipocalin-2 and its clinical significance in serum of patients with lung cancer. METHODS The serum levels of Lipocalin-2 in 60 lung cancer patients and 63 healthy people were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the relationship between the expression level of Lipocalin-2 and the clinical characteristics of lung cancer was analyzed. RESULTS The expression level of Lipocalin-2 in peripheral blood serum of patients with lung cancer was significantly higher than that of healthy people, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). The expression of Lipocalin-2 in patients with lung cancer was related to the differentiation, stage and lymph node metastasis of pathological tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The expression level of Lipocalin-2 in serum of patients with poorly differentiated lung cancer was higher than that of patients with well differentiated lung cancer; the expression level of Lipocalin-2 in serum of patients with lymph node metastasis was higher than that of patients without lymph node metastasis; the expression level of Lipocalin-2 in patients with clinical stage III + IV lung cancer was significantly higher than that of patients with clinical stage I + II lung cancer, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Lipocalin-2 is highly expressed in serum of patients with lung cancer, which is related to pathological differentiation, stage and lymph node metastasis. It is expected to become a potential new tumor marker for clinical diagnosis of lung cancer.