Circulating TERT serves as the novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for the resectable NSCLC

Abstract

Abstract Background Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is a catalytic subunit of telomerase and required for cancer development. This study aims to reveal its clinical utility for diagnosis and prognosis of resectable NSCLC. Methods TERT was quantitatively evaluated by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) from 69 patients before and after the surgery. The prognostic value was evaluated by disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results Circulating TERT in NSCLC patients were significantly higher than that in the healthy group, possessing the AUC of 0.90. Importantly, TERT change between pre- and post- operation was significantly correlated with OS and DFS (p = 0.022, p = 0.046 respectively), acted as the independent prognostic factors for DFS and OS, indicating it can serve as the promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Conclusions TERT change between pre- and post- resection can serve as the promising biomarker for prognosis of resectable NSCLC.

Keywords

• Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)
• Resectable NSCLC
• Prognosis
• Diagnosis
• Leukocyte telomere length (LTL)