Molecular Biomarkers & Diagnosis

Current Serum Lung Cancer Biomarkers

Abstract

Jung-Mo Ahn and Je-Yoel Cho

The development of proteomics technology over the past decade has advanced the identification and validation of new biomarkers. Clinical applications of serum biomarkers will benefit us by being cost-effective and non-invasive, as well as by allowing the simple detection of diseases. Numerous serum biomarkers for lung cancer have been identified and reported in publications. Despite extensive studies, cancer detection via a single marker remains difficult due to the low sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the identified lung cancer serum biomarkers. An optimal combination of multiple biomarkers, rather than a single biomarker, should be considered for the development of a lung cancer detection biomarker panel and should be validated with these combinatory markers. This review summarizes the lung cancer biomarkers that have been published within the last five years.