Serum sRANKL and sRANKL/OPG ratio: Novel biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Abstract. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) and soluble receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (sRANKL) are bone-regulating molecules. The two molecules have each been indicated to be involved in carcinogenesis. However, the diagnostic significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be investigated. Thus, the objective of the present study was to investigate the serum levels of OPG and sRANKL in NSCLC patients, and to analyze their clinical significance. Serum OPG and sRANKL levels were determined in 50 patients with NSCLC, matched with 25 patients with benign lung nodule and 25 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The level of serum sRANKL and the sRANKL/OPG ratio were significant elevated in the patients with NSCLC compared with the benign lung nodule patients and the healthy controls. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the performance of sRANKL and sRANKL/OPG. When the cut-off values for the sRANKL level and the sRANKL/OPG ratio were set at 4.20 pmol/l and 0.60, respectively, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of sRANKL were 74.0, 84.0 and 77.3%, respectively. Moreover, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the sRANKL/OPG ratio were 84.0, 88.0 and 85.3%, respectively. On the other hand, when the cut-off values of the serum sRANKL level and the sRANKL/OPG ratio were set at 5.24 pmol/l and 0.63, respectively, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of sRANKL were 60.0, 84.0 and 68.0%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the ratio were 78.0, 64.0 and 73.3%, respectively. The OPG/RANKL system may be involved in the pathogenesis of NSCLC. More importantly, the serum sRANKL level and the sRANKL/OPG ratio may have the potential to be novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of NSCLC.

Integrated bioinformatics and network pharmacology to explore the therapeutic target and molecular mechanisms of Taxus chinensis against non-small cell lung cancer

“…[ 28 ] Most patients with NSCLC present with metastasis at the time of diagnosis and cannot be cured surgically. [ 29 ] Although radiotherapy, conventional chemotherapy, and targeted therapy are used to alleviate NSCLC, the therapies still exhibit poor prognoses and high recurrence rates. [ 30 ] Therefore, identifying drugs that can effectively improve disease control rates is critical.…”

Hypoxia Preconditioned Serum (HPS) Promotes Osteoblast Proliferation, Migration and Matrix Deposition

“…Thus, protein identification of mRANKL by immunohistochemical cell staining or expression evaluation via RANKL mRNA measurements is still to be performed in order to study the interaction of osteoblasts/osteoclasts and the OPG/RANK/RANKL-axis-modulation in the setting of HPS stimulation. Additionally, since the physiological RANKL protein level in human blood serum of approximately 250 pg/mL [ 49 ] was not detectable in the culture supernatants, RANKL is suggested to be degraded with time and was at least not reproduced as a soluble cytokine from osteoblasts during HPS stimulation. However, a more extensive investigation of the effects of HPS on bone mass homeostasis must be conducted using a model of larger complexity and including all cell types involved in bone regeneration, especially osteoclasts.…”

Construction of confidence intervals for the maximum of the Youden index and the corresponding cutoff point of a continuous biomarker

“…Keller et al, 2014;Lu, Sun, & Jin, 2016;Sabate, Rousseau, Schymkowitz, & Ventura, 2015;Suija et al, 2012). Keller et al, 2014;Lu, Sun, & Jin, 2016;Sabate, Rousseau, Schymkowitz, & Ventura, 2015;Suija et al, 2012).…”

“…In spite of the wealth of available methods for obtaining confidence intervals, applied subject matter papers typically just present point estimates of and * (e.g. Keller et al, 2014;Lu, Sun, & Jin, 2016;Sabate, Rousseau, Schymkowitz, & Ventura, 2015;Suija et al, 2012). This practice may be attributed to confusion due to the number of existing methods throughout the biometrical literature, the lack of a clear comparison and/or the availability of software for their implementation.…”