SynthesisJournal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology2012
Serum mesothelin for diagnosing malignant pleural mesothelioma: an individual patient data meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 103 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
103 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 228 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical practice guidelines for molecular tumor marker, 2nd edition review part 2.International journal of clinical oncology · 2024Guideline
- The diagnostic utility of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the early detection of cancer: a systematic review.PeerJ · 2024Pooled it
- Clinical utility of diagnostic biomarkers in malignant pleural mesothelioma: a systematic review and meta-analysis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2021Pooled it
- Treatment of Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma: American Society of Clinical Oncology Clinical Practice Guideline.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2018Guideline
- Prognostic significance of soluble mesothelin in malignant pleural mesothelioma: a meta-analysis.Oncotarget · 2017Pooled it
- Diagnostic value of fibulin-3 for malignant pleural mesothelioma: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Oncotarget · 2016Pooled it
- Diagnostic value of microRNAs in asbestos exposure and malignant mesothelioma: systematic review and qualitative meta-analysis.Oncotarget · 2016Pooled it
- Diagnostic values of soluble mesothelin-related peptides for malignant pleural mesothelioma: updated meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2014Pooled it
- Ad-SGE-DKK3 Gene Therapy Overcomes Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Pleural Mesothelioma.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2025Trial
- Artichoke phytocomplex modulates serum microRNAs in patients exposed to asbestos: a first step of a phase II clinical trial.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2022Trial
- MiR-21 Is a Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Circulating Biomarker in Pleural Mesothelioma.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Review
- Pleural mesothelioma.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- Molecular Mechanisms of Tumor Progression and Novel Therapeutic and Diagnostic Strategies in Mesothelioma.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Evaluating therapeutic plasma exchange and protease inhibitors as mechanisms to reduce soluble mesothelin.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Circulating SMRP and CA-125 before and after pleurectomy decortication for pleural mesothelioma.Thoracic cancer · 2024Article
- Pleural mesothelioma (PMe): The evolving molecular knowledge of a rare and aggressive cancer.Molecular oncology · 2024Review
- Pleural Mesothelioma: Advances in Blood and Pleural Biomarkers.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Chinese expert consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma.Thoracic cancer · 2023Article
43 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeMesothelin is currently considered the best available serum biomarker of malignant pleural mesothelioma. To examine the diagnostic accuracy and use of serum mesothelin in early diagnosis, we performed an individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis.
methodsThe literature search identified 16 diagnostic studies of serum mesothelin, measured with the Mesomark enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. IPD of 4,491 individuals were collected, including several control groups and 1,026 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Mesothelin levels were standardized for between-study differences and age, after which the diagnostic accuracy and the factors affecting it were examined with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) regression analysis.
resultsAt a common diagnostic threshold of 2.00 nmol/L, the sensitivities and specificities of mesothelin in the different studies ranged widely from 19% to 68% and 88% to 100%, respectively. This heterogeneity can be explained by differences in study population, because type of control group, mesothelioma stage, and histologic subtype significantly affected the diagnostic accuracy. The use of mesothelin in early diagnosis was evaluated by differentiating 217 patients with stage I or II epithelioid and biphasic mesothelioma from 1,612 symptomatic or high-risk controls. The resulting area under the ROC curve was 0.77 (95% CI, 0.73 to 0.81). At 95% specificity, mesothelin displayed a sensitivity of 32% (95% CI, 26% to 40%).
conclusionIn patients suspected of having mesothelioma, a positive blood test for mesothelin at a high-specificity threshold is a strong incentive to urge further diagnostic steps. However, the poor sensitivity of mesothelin clearly limits its added value to early diagnosis and emphasizes the need for further biomarker research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.