Abstract:
Objective Gastric cancer is a common malignancy with poor prognosis owing to its frequent diagnosis at advanced stages when metastasis has already occurred. To improve the 5-year survival rate and reduce the number of cancer-related deaths in patients with gastric cancer, it is necessary to develop noninvasive methods for early detection. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of circulating methylated SEPT9 (mSEPT9) and ring finger protein 180 (mRNF180) in patients with early gastric cancer.
Methods We enrolled 74 patients with early gastric cancer, 99 with benign gastric diseases (inflammation, polyps, intestinal metaplasia, ulcers, and erosion), and 57 healthy controls. Methylation of SEPT9 and RNF180 genes was detected in each group, and positivity rates were calculated. We determined the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, confidence interval (CI), and area under the curve (AUC) for methylation of these genes in patients with early gastric cancer.
Results As a diagnostic target, SEPT9 methylation had a sensitivity of 28.3% (95% CI:18.5~40.0%), specificity of 94.2% (95% CI:89.3~97.3%), and an AUC value of 0.616 (95% CI:52.0~71.1%). RNF180 methylation had a sensitivity of 32.4% (95% CI:22.0~44.3%), specificity of 89.7% (95% CI:83.9~94.0%), and an AUC value of 0.636 (95% CI:54.2~73.0%). A combination of the two targets yielded a sensitivity of 40.5% (95% CI:29.3~52.6%), specificity of 85.3% (95% CI:78.7~90.4%), and an AUC value of 0.65 (95% CI:55.7~74.4%).
Conclusions SEPT9 and RNF180 methylation could be used as diagnostic biomarkers for detecting early gastric cancer.