ELMO3 is a novel biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND:To investigated the diagnostic and prognostic value of engulfment and cell motility (ELMO3) in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS:The expression of ELMO3 at mRNA levels were detected using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 125 NSCLC patients' tissues and adjacent tissues, as well as in the serum of 125 NSCLC patients and 89 healthy controls. Then, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis were adopted to estimate the potential diagnostic and prognostic value of ELMO3, respectively. RESULTS:ELMO3 expression level was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC patients' tissues and serum compared with controls (P<0.001). Moreover, the expression of ELMO3 was significantly associated with tumor size (P=0.020), TNM stage (P=0.017), lymph node metastasis (PP=0.045) and distance metastasis (P=0.033). ROC showed the AUC was 0.917, and the optimal cutoff value was 0.735, providing a sensitivity of 92.8% and a specificity of 84.3%. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated the high expression of ELMO3 could lead to a shorter overall survival time. In multivariate analysis, ELMO3 expression (HR=3.378, 95% CI=1.326-8.587, P=0.011) was proved to be linked with the prognosis of NSCLC and might act as an independent prognostic marker. CONCLUSION:The over-expression of ELMO3 was a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for NSCLC.

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