The choice of the two markers was done regarding to their role in the initial steps in lung cancerogenesis.33 The screening characteristics of the panel were performed in a COPD group of patients with certain spirometric characteristics. Enzastaurin MM According to Purdue et al,34 COPD patients with FEO/FVC < 70%, FEO1 < 75%, had a higher relative risk for lung cancer development in comparison to the general population. Applying a preamplification assay we generated expression of both of the genes in almost all patients�� plasma. The preamplification was performed with cDNA and gene specific primers. It allowed concentration of the genes of interest and augmented the sensitivity of the real-time assay. The plasma expression of EGFR was detected in all patients. hTERT mRNA was observed in 88% of the investigated subjects.
The mean level of expression of EGFR in the NSCLC group was RQ = 29.39. In comparison in the COPD patients only 50% showed expression for EGFR RQ = 2.09. hTERT mRNA gene expression level was��RQ = 17.31 in NSCLC patients; in COPD patients hTERT mRNA expression was detected in 42.5% of the patients. Their mean RQ = 1.02. Comparing the mean values of the gene expression of EGFR and hTERT in the two groups, a statistically significant difference could be observed��p < 0.0001. Despite of the fact that patients with advanced stage of the disease participated in the study (sixteen��36% at stage III)��all patients with early stage lung cancer showed expression of both of the genes in plasma. These findings are consistent with the results of Miura et al,30 who ran a real-time PCR with EGFR and hTERT using absolute quantative analysis.
In contrast to our design their group of cancer patients included SCLC. The control group was entirely of healthy volunteers. They were able to define a cut-off copy number of EGFR and hTERT mRNA performing ROC analysis. The sensitivity and specificity in lung cancer diagnosis were 89.0% and 72.7% for hTERT mRNA, and 71.3% and 80.0% for EGFR mRNA, respectively. Although we were unable to perform an absolute gene expression analysis, the preliminary data of our study implies the diagnostic potential of EGFR and hTERT as candidate markers for lung cancer detection among high risk smokers. A larger cohort of early lung cancer and high risk patients should be investigated for the validation of our findings.
An absolute gene expression analysis is required to find the threshold value of gene copy mRNA and estimate the sensitivity and specificity of the panel of AV-951 markers. Conclusion The expression of EGFR mRNA and hTERT mRNA in plasma of non-small cell lung cancer patients provides a potential tool for molecular diagnosis of NSCLC among high risk groups of patients. Footnotes Disclosures The authors report no conflicts of interest.