SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation in diagnosing malignant pleural effusion induced by lung cancer

作者：Ming-Hong Xie, Yunlong Zhao, Xiaohua Hou, Ning Li, Haiwei Liu, Xiaoyi Zhang, Xiexin Xu · 发表于：Clinica Chimica Acta · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.cca.2025.120273 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment、Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Studies、Epigenetics and DNA Methylation

BACKGROUND: Malignant pleural effusion (MPE) is a thoracic complication disease characterized by tumors, predominantly resulting from advanced lung cancer. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation as a supplementary diagnostic tool for lung cancer-induced MPE with uncertain pathological diagnoses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR) was used to assess SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation levels in 98 pleural effusion samples. The cut-off values for SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation levels for the detection of MPE were determined through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, with corresponding sensitivity and specificity analyses. The chi-square test was used to evaluate the relationship between SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation levels and clinical characteristics or immunohistochemical markers in patients with MPE. RESULTS: For the diagnosis of MPE, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) values for SHOX2 and RASSF1A methylation levels were 0.820 and 0.718, respectively, with a combined AUC value of 0.881. The sensitivity and specificity of SHOX2 methylation levels were 68.4 % and 92.7 %, respectively, whereas those of RASSF1A methylation levels were 47.4 % and 97.7 %, respectively. The combined detection of SHOX2 and RASSF1A (using the LungMe® assay kit) exhibited a sensitivity of 82.5 %, which exceeded that of cytological analysis (29.8 %). The sensitivity and specificity of combined cytological a...