Circulating tumor cells as a potential biomarker in diagnosis of lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectivesAccumulating evidences demonstrated that circulating tumor cells (CTCs) show significant high concentration in plasma of lung cancer patients compared to control cohorts, suggesting that CTCs may be a promising biomarker for lung cancer. The meta-analysis was used to evaluate potential diagnostic value of CTCs in diagnosing lung cancer. MethodsRelevant literatures were searched in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Technology of Chongqing (VIP), and Wan Fang Data. Summary estimates were used to evaluate CTCs as the diagnostic standard for lung cancer using Meta-DiSc and STATA 12.0 statistical software. ResultsThis meta-analysis included five studies with a total of 460 lung cancer patients and 239 benign controls. The sensitivity and specificity (95% confidence interval [CI]) of CTCs was 75% (95% CI: 54%-88%) and 92% (95%CI: 82%-97%), respectively. In addition, the area under the summary ROC curve (AUC) was 0.93. ConclusionCTCs is a novel potential biomarker in the diagnosis of lung cancer, and more prospective are needed in the future.