The value of MALDI-based profiling of serum peptidome as a tool for the early detection of lung cancer and enhancement of LD-CT lung cancer screening was investigated.
The analysis revealed several components with abundances discriminating patients with early lung cancer from healthy high-risk smokers, allowing for the development of an effective cancer discriminator.
The mass profile-based signature has insufficient value as an independent marker (NPV of 88% and PPV of 30%, in a validation stage), yet its clinical usefulness in evaluation of indeterminate pulmonary nodules detected incidentally or within CT screening deserves further investigation.