Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role of WFDC2 encoding human epididymis protein 4（HE4） in the early diagnosis and curative effect monitoring of pulmonary carcinoma. Methods A total of 226 pulmonary carcinoma patients（pulmonary carcinoma group）,128 patients with benign pulmonary disease（benign disease control group） and 100 healthy subjects（healthy control group） were enrolled. WFDC2 encoding HE4 was determined by enzyme immunoassay. The levels of carcinoembryonic antigen（CEA）,cytokeratin 19 fragment（CYFRA21-1）,neuron-specific enolase（NSE） and squamous cell carcinoma（SCC） related antigen were determined by chemiluminescence. The areas under receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curves（AUC） of HE4,CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE and SCC related antigen in the 3 groups were evaluated. Results Serum HE4 level of pulmonary carcinoma group was 93.29（61.74,160.28） pmol/L,which was higher than those of benign disease control group [76.47（55.35,129.85） pmol/L] and healthy control group [45.64（36.60,62.35） pmol/L]（P<0.05）. There was no statistical significance for serum HE4 level with different pathological types of pulmonary carcinoma（P>0.05）. In the diagnosis of pulmonary carcinoma,the AUC of HE4 was 0.860,and HE4 had good diagnostic efficiency. The AUC of HE4 combined with CEA,CYFRA21-1,NSE and SCC related antigen was 0.906,which was higher than those of 5 single determinations. There was statistical significance for serum HE4 levels with different clinical stages of pulmonary carcinoma（P<0.05）. Serum HE4 levels were elevated after chemotherapy（P<0.05）. Conclusions WFDC2 encoding HE4 can be used as a marker for the early diagnosis and curative effect monitoring of pulmonary carcinoma.

Key words: Human epididymis protein 4, Pulmonary carcinoma, Diagnosis, Curative effect