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 ± SD | 42.7 ± 18.0 | 53.1 ± 18.3 | 68.5 ± 8.2 | 62.3 ± 8.8 | Male, no. (%) | 2 (22.2) | 10 (58.8) | 12 (48.0) | 10 (50) | Smoker, no. (%) | 0 | 11 (64.7) | 20 (80.0) | 15 (88.0) | Smoking in pack-years, mean ± SD | 0 | 28.4 ± 29.5 | 43.6 ± 30.6 | 47.3 ± 22.05 | Type of lung cancer, no. (%) | NSCLC | | | 25 (100.0) | 20 (100.0) | Adenocarcinoma | | | 15 (60.0) | 13 (65) | Squamous cell carcinoma | | | 8 (32.0) | 2 (10) | Large cell carcinoma | | | 2 (8.0) | 1 (5) | UICC classification, no. (%) | IA | | | 5 (20.0) | | IB | | | 8 (32.0) | | IIA | | | 6 (24.0) | | IIB | | | 5 (20.0) | | IIIA | | | 1 (4.0) | | IIIB | | | | 1 (5.0) | IV | | | | 15 (75.0) | Type of benign lung diseases, no. (%) | COPD | | 8 (47.1) | | | Cystic fibrosis | | 4 (23.5) | | | Other benign lung diseases | | 5 (29.4) | | |
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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). |