Neuron-Specific Enolase (NSE) and Lung Cancer
Neuron-specific enolase (NSE) as a diagnostic marker for lung cancer
The neuron-specific enolase (NSE) is only present in neurons and cells with neuroendocrine function, and it is widely used as a hallmark protein for neuronal cells in clinical settings. However, certain types of lung cancer, which have neuroendocrine characteristics, can also produce and release NSE into the blood. Therefore, neuron-specific enolase NSE can also serve as a diagnostic marker for some types of lung cancer.
Among various types of lung cancer, small cell lung cancer is a tumor with neuronal secretion properties. Hence, NSE is one of the most sensitive and specific tumor markers for small-cell lung cancer.
Many experiments have confirmed that the NSE concentration in the serum of lung cancer patients is the highest in small-cell lung cancer. Research results have shown that the level of neuron-specific enolase (NSE) in the serum of small-cell lung cancer patients is significantly higher than that in the control group, indicating that serum NSE is of significant clinical significance in monitoring the progression of small-cell lung cancer and evaluating prognosis.
A comparative study was conducted on 80 small cell lung cancer patients, 74 non-small cell lung cancer patients, 140 non-lung tumor pulmonary disease patients, and 50 healthy individuals. The NSE concentration in the blood of each patient was measured, and a comparative analysis was performed. The results showed that the NSE level in small cell lung cancer patients was about 12.3 times higher than that in normal individuals, suggesting that the NSE level in serum can help predict the pathological type of lung cancer, and clinical stage, and evaluate the effectiveness of various treatment methods.
The above research shows that by detecting NSE in serum in combination with other lung cancer markers, the detection rate of lung cancer can be improved, the sensitivity of diagnosis can be increased, and it is of significant clinical significance for the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis evaluation of various types of lung cancer.
What is neuron-specific enolase (NSE)?
NSE is an acidic protein that is widely found in nervous tissue but is present in extremely small amounts in serum and cerebrospinal fluid. The NSE content in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with brain damage is consistent with the degree of brain damage, and it has been recognized as a characteristic marker of nerve tissue damage.
In addition, NSE is also distributed in certain lung cancer tissues with neuroendocrine cell characteristics, and it can be used as a joint diagnostic marker for some types of lung cancer. Therefore, there is great potential for detecting NSE content in serum in clinical evaluation of the degree of brain damage and prediction of prognosis. However, there are still many controversies, and further experimental and clinical research is needed for verification.
We believe that the detection process of NSE should be continuously simplified and its detection accuracy should be improved to reduce experimental and clinical data bias, making neuron-specific enolase (NSE) an effective indicator for clinical related disease identification.
