Introduction:

Biomarkers play a crucial role in evaluating the prognosis, diagnosis, and monitoringof non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to compare the levels of inflammatoryand remodelling biomarkers among patients with NSCLC and healthy controls (HCs) and to investigatethe correlation between these biomarkers.

Material and methods:

Blood samples were taken from 93 NSCLC and 84 HCs. Each sample wasanalysed for the inflammatory biomarkers transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), mothers againstdecapentaplegic homolog 2 (SMAD2) and the remodelling biomarkers Wingless-related integration site(Wnt3a) and β-catenin (CTNN-β1).

Results:

The patients with NSCLC had significantly higher levels of all the measured biomarkers.In the NSCLC patients, TGF-β1 correlated significantly with SMAD2 (r = 0.34, p = 0.0008), Wnt3a(r = 0.328, p = 0.0013), and CTNN-β1 levels (r = 0.30, p = 0.004). SMAD2 correlated significantlywith CTNN-β1 (r = 0.546, p = 0.0001) and Wnt3a (r = 0.598, p = 0.0001). CTNN-β1 level also correlated with the level of Wnt3a (r = 0.61, p = 0.0001). No correlation was found between biomarkersand symptom scores.

Discussion:

In this study, patients with NSCLC had higher inflammatory and remodelling biomarker levels than HCs. In the NSCLC, there were significant associations between inflammatory andremodelling biomarkers. This indicates that measuring biomarkers could be valuable in the workupof NSCLC patients.

Conclusions:

Our investigation showed that inflammatory and remodelling biomarkers might playa role in future immunologic response and pharmacologically targeted NSCLC therapy.