ArticleJournal of thoracic disease2022
A systematic review and meta-analysis of circulating cell-free DNA as a diagnostic biomarker for non-small cell lung cancer.
Article in Journal of thoracic disease, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integration of circulating tumor DNA data enhances lung cancer prediction in patients with COPD.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Diagnostics of lung cancer by fragmentated blood circulating cell-free DNA based on machine learning methods.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Plasma-Based Comprehensive Genomic Profiling DNA Assays for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A Health Technology Assessment.Ontario health technology assessment series · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Early diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is crucial for treatment. Circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is an extracellular nucleic acid found in serum, and tumor cfDNA circulating in the blood may be used as a biomarker for early diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the application value of cfDNA as a biomarker for the diagnosis of NSCLC through meta-analysis. Methods: We searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, and Web of Science databases using the following search terms: lung cancer, NSCLC, biomarkers, circulating cfDNA, cfDNA, circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), circulating cell-free tumor DNA, and diagnosis. The retrieval period was set until September 2021. According to PICOS (patients, intervention, comparison, outcomes, and study design) principles the inclusion criteria were: aged ≥18 years; at least 10 NSCLC cases; NSCLC patients diagnosed by histopathology or cytology; circulating cfDNA was detected; outcome data could be completely extracted. Bias risk assessment was conducted according to the QUADAS (Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies). RevMan 5.3 was used for meta-analysis. Results: Eight studies met the inclusion criteria, including a total of 618 NSCLC patients and 635 healthy subjects. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 0.79 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75-0.82] and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.78-0.84), respectively. The area under the curve (AUC) of the summary receiving operating characteristic (SROC) curve was 0.8941. The pooled positive likelihood ratio, pooled negative likelihood ratio, and pooled diagnostic odds ratio were 5.37 (95% CI: 2.67-10.81), 0.24 (95% CI: 0.15-0.38), and 24.68 (95% CI: 8.85-68.84), respectively. The patient selection bias was high in two articles was high, unclear in one article, and low in the remaining five ones. The risk of bias in the research index test was unclear in one article, and low in the remaining seven articles. The reference standard bias, and flow and time bias of all articles was low. Conclusions: Circulating cfDNA is an efficacy biomarker in diagnosis of NSCLC. Its clinical application technology is worthy of further research.
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