The diagnostic performance of lysine(K)-specific demethylase 6B (KDM6B) in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Objectives Accumulating evidence show that histone demethylases play important roles in various types of cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the current study, we evaluated the diagnostic value of lysine(K)-specific demethylase 6B (KDM6B) in NSCLC.Methods Serum KDM6B expression levels of 115 NSCLC patients and 88 healthy volunteers were detected by reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between KDM6B and clinical characteristics was assessed by chi-square test. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied to evaluate diagnostic efficacy.Results Serum KDM6B was significantly lower in NSCLC patients than that in healthy controls (p < .001). Moreover, low KDM6B expression was significantly associated with the high clinical stage (p = .028) and positive lymph node metastasis (p = .031). Besides, we found that the expression of KDM6B mRNA was also significantly different among healthy controls, NSCLC early stage and later stage patients (p < .05). ROC curve indicated that KDM6B could serve as a diagnostic marker for NSCLC with the cut-off value of 0.955. The AUC was 0.897 with a sensitivity of 79.5% and specificity of 84.3%.Conclusion Down-regulation of KDM6B is significantly associated with aggressive progression of NSCLC and KDM6B may be a tool of early detection of NSCLC.

Keywords

• KDM6B (JMJD3)
• diagnosis
• non-small cell lung cancer
• qRT-PCR