Plasma SNORD42B and SNORD111 as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer

Background: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) still occupied the leading reason of cancer death due to lack of availability of early detection. This study aimed to identify the effective biomarkers for the early-stage NSCLC diagnostics based on plasma snoRNAs.

Materials and methods: The differential snoRNAs between lung cancer patients and healthy donors were analyzed using the SNORic and TCGA databases. SNORD42B and SNORD111 were screened out and further verified in 48 FFPE NSCLC and adjacent normal tissues, as well as in plasma from 165 NSCLC patients and 118 health donors using qRT-PCR. Next, their diagnostic efficiency, as well as combined with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), was obtained by the analysis of receiver operating characteristic (ROC).

Results: We first screened out 47 top differential snoRNAs, among which the top 10 upregulated snoRNAs in LUAD were U44, U75, U78, U77, SNORD72, SNORD13, SNORD12B, SCARNA5, U80, SNORD41, and in LUSC were U44, U75, U78, SNORD41, SNORD111, SNORA56, U17a, SNORD35A, SNORD32A, SNORA71D. SNORD42B and SNORD111 was significantly increased not only in tumor tissues but also in plasma from NSCLC and early-stage NSCLC patients. They were capable to act as promising biomarkers for NSCLC and early-stage NSCLC diagnosis. Moreover, CEA diagnostic efficiency for early-stage NSCLC was significantly improved when combined with these two plasma snoRNAs.

Conclusion: SNORD42B and SNORD111 could act as the potential and non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for NSCLC and early-stage NSCLC.