Plasma biomarkers distinguish non-small cell lung cancer from asthma and differ in men and women

Background: Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of deaths caused by cancer worldwide. A diagnostic test for LC is needed for monitoring high-risk populations. Patients and Methods: Fifty-seven markers were measured using multiplex immunoassays of plasma of patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC); (245 men, 114 women, 1 unknown), asthma (67 men, 111 women, 2 unknown) and of healthy controls (165 men, 122 women, 1 unknown). Mass spectrometry was used for biomarker discovery. A support vector machine (SVM) was used for data analysis. Results: When all biomarkers and both genders were co-analyzed, SVM classified NSCLC and asthma with an accuracy of 0.94.