Tumour markers play an important role in the early diagnosis and guidance of prognosis of lung cancer. This study focused on the significance of combined monitoring of interleukin (IL)-6 and tumour markers in improving the specificity and sensitivity of lung cancer diagnosis and disease. The expression of IL-6, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and cytokeratin 19 fragment antigen 21-1 (CYFRA21-1) in serum of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (n = 138) was significantly higher compared to patients with benign pulmonary lesions (BPL) (n = 60) and was associated with the clinicopathological features of NSCLC patients. The simultaneous increase in the expression of IL-6 and tumour markers worsened the prognosis of patients. Lung cancer cells were grouped into the blank control group, IL-6 group, niclosamide group (IL-6 pathway inhibitor, NIC) and IL-6 + NIC group. The expression of CEA, NSE, CYFRA21-1, p-Erk1/2 and p-AKT in the IL-6 group was significantly higher compared to the other groups. Therefore, the combined detection of IL-6 and tumour markers is critical to improve the specificity and sensitivity of lung cancer diagnosis. This in-depth study not only helped to elucidate the mechanism of how IL-6 promotes lung cancer but also provided new ideas and entry points to resolve the low specificity and sensitivity of lung cancer-related tumour markers.
Keywords: ELISA; Non-small cell lung cancer; interleukin-6; tumour markers.