Serum miR-155-5p assists the diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy of low-dose spiral CT imaging in early lung cancer.

Background: Low-dose spiral CT imaging has been employed for cancer diagnosis, but its sensitivity and specificity were unsatisfactory. MicroRNAs have been considered an approach for screening cancers, and the function of miR-155-5p in lung cancer has been previously revealed.

Objectives: This study assessed the diagnostic value of combining low-dose spiral CT with serum miR-155-5p in lung cancer aiming to explore a novel strategy to assist the clinical cancer diagnosis.

Methods: This study enrolled 115 lung cancer patients and 115 patients with benign lung diseases as control. All patients received low-dose spiral CT imaging, and serum miR-155-5p levels were analyzed by PCR. The diagnostic potential of miR-155-5p in lung cancer was evaluated by receiver operating curve (ROC), and its significance in evaluating the risk of lung cancer was evaluated by logistic regression analysis. The consistency of serum miR-155-5p and low-dose spiral CT imaging with pathological examination was assessed by the Kappa test.

Results: Reduced serum miR-155-5p indicated the risk of lung cancer in patients with benign lung diseases. Decreased serum miR-155-5p showed significant diagnostic value in early lung cancer and was significantly associated with disease severity. Low-dose spiral CT imaging showed significant diagnostic value in early lung cancer and showed middle consistency with pathological examination. Combining low-dose spiral CT imaging with serum miR-155-5p improved the diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy in early lung cancer, reduced the false positive rate, and showed better consistency with pathological examination.

Conclusion: Serum miR-155-5p levels could assist the early detection of lung cancer by low-dose spiral CT examination.