Abstract
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is characterised by late-stage diagnosis and poor prognosis. Currently, no screening tool is advocated and diagnosis is based on invasive techniques, which are not well tolerated. Non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers have shown potential and could have a huge clinical benefit. However, despite extensive research, there is no consensus yet on their clinical use, with many articles reporting contradicting results, limiting their clinical implementation. The aim of this systematic review is therefore to explore the different semi- and non-invasive diagnostic markers in several human matrices and identify those that might clinically be relevant. A total of 100 articles were selected through Web of Science and PubMed, with 56 articles included in the quantitative analysis. Although many studies have reported on the diagnostic accuracy of MPM biomarkers such as serum mesothelin and high-mobility group box protein 1 and plasma fibulin-3, none have resulted in a validated test for early detection. Future research should focus on external validation, combinations into biomarker panels, the inclusion of early stage MPM patients and a combination of different biomarker matrices, as well as new markers.
Abstract
Diagnostic biomarkers for malignant pleural mesothelioma seem promising; however, further research is necessary to prove their clinical value. This review provides a thorough overview of the different markers and compares them in several matrices. https://bit.ly/35ni6UO
Footnotes
Provenance: Submitted article, peer reviewed.
This article has supplementary material available from err.ersjournals.com
Author contributions: E. Schillebeeckx: data curation, investigation, methodology, visualisation, writing (original draft, review and editing). J.P. van Meerbeeck: supervision, writing (review and editing). K. Lamote: conceptualisation, methodology, funding acquisition, supervision, visualisation, writing (review and editing).
Conflict of interest: E. Schillebeeckx has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: J.P. van Meerbeeck has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: K. Lamote has nothing to disclose.
Support statement: This study was funded by a grant from the Foundation Against Cancer (grant STK 2018-137) and by a grant from Kom op tegen Kanker (Stand up to Cancer), the Flemish cancer society by the grant “Emmanuel van der Schueren”. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received March 3, 2021.
- Accepted June 8, 2021.
- Copyright ©The authors 2021
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