Comparison of Serum MicroRNA21 and Tumor Markers in Diagnosis of Early Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Table 2

Correlation between clinical features and serum miR21, CEA, NSE, and CYFRA21-1 levels of NSCLC patients.

Clinical feature	Variable	n	CEA; (ng/mL)	NSE; (ng/mL)	CYFRA21-1; (ng/mL)	miR21; (arbitrary units)
Gender	Male	38	33.13 ± 20.25	22.38 ± 13.45	12.65 ± 9.84	2.04 ± 1.19
	Female	12	44.88 ± 14.96	27.71 ± 9.80	13.78 ± 6.79	2.49 ± 0.94
			0.070	0.212	0.712	0.240
Age	>60	21	38.22 ± 19.80	25.90 ± 13.62	15.70 ± 9.58	2.23 ± 1.14
	≤60	29	34.30 ± 19.70	22.03 ± 12.13	10.90 ± 8.42	2.08 ± 1.16
			0.692	1.059	1.878	0.461
			0.492	0.295	0.066	0.647
Pathology	Squamous cell carcinoma	29	40.47 ± 20.44	22.41 ± 11.62	12.82 ± 8.90	2.33 ± 1.14
	Adenocarcinoma	21	29.70 ± 16.99	25.38 ± 14.36	13.06 ± 9.70	1.89 ± 1.12
			1.970			1.360
			0.055	0.424	0.927	0.180
TNM stage	I-II	22	33.16 ± 17.68	21.50 ± 13.76	10.39 ± 8.99	1.80 ± 1.18
	III-IV	28	38.14 ± 21.10	26.41 ± 11.14	16.14 ± 8.50	2.59 ± 0.95
				1.360	2.301	2.575
			0.379	0.180	0.026	0.013

miR21 expression was normalized against miR16 expression and is described in relative units.