Research Article

High Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Levels Are Detectable in the Serum of Patients with Lung Cancer and May Be Exploited as Screening Biomarkers

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of all patients and healthy controls.

Healthy controls (n = 9)Benign lung disease (n = 17)Early-stage lung cancer (n = 25)Advanced-stage lung cancer (n = 20)

Age in years, mean ± SD42.7 ± 18.053.1 ± 18.368.5 ± 8.262.3 ± 8.8
Male, no. (%)2 (22.2)10 (58.8)12 (48.0)10 (50)
Smoker, no. (%)011 (64.7)20 (80.0)15 (88.0)
Smoking in pack-years, mean ± SD028.4 ± 29.543.6 ± 30.647.3 ± 22.05
Type of lung cancer, no. (%)
 NSCLC25 (100.0)20 (100.0)
  Adenocarcinoma15 (60.0)13 (65)
  Squamous cell carcinoma8 (32.0)2 (10)
  Large cell carcinoma2 (8.0)1 (5)
UICC classification, no. (%)
 IA5 (20.0)
 IB8 (32.0)
 IIA6 (24.0)
 IIB5 (20.0)
 IIIA1 (4.0)
 IIIB1 (5.0)
 IV15 (75.0)
Type of benign lung diseases, no. (%)
 COPD8 (47.1)
 Cystic fibrosis4 (23.5)
 Other benign lung diseases5 (29.4)

NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer; COPD: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking status of 3 patients unknown. Other benign lung diseases comprise precapillary pulmonary hypertension (n = 2), interstitial lung disease (n = 1), sarcoidosis (n = 1), and mucoid impaction (n = 1).