Evaluation of HE4 in the Diagnosis and Follow Up of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the performance of HE4 in the diagnosis and follow up in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Serum levels of HE4, CEA, and Cyfra 21-1 were analyzed in 146 patients suspected with NSCLC and 30 healthy subjects to evaluate their diagnostic performance. A one year follow up was performed in 61 patients confirmed with NSCLC after surgery eradication at the interval of 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Results: Our results showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) of HE4 was 0.761, which was similar with CEA. The sensitivity and specificity of HE4 was 0.82 and 0.62, respectively, at the level of 75.0 pmol/L. The AUC of HE4 was 0.70, 0.81, and 0.90 at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery, respectively, which was significantly higher than CEA and Cyfra 21-1. Conclusions: Our finding indicates that HE4 is a potential marker for the diagnosis and follow up of NSCLC patients, which is complementary with CEA and Cyfra 21-1 and accurate in predicting NSCLC recurrence in early stage.