Abstract

Objectives: Serum total sialic acid (TSA) and lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) levels were investigated in patients with small and non-small cell lung carcinoma and their role in discriminating small from non-small cell lung carcinoma and lung carcinoma from healthy individuals was evaluated.

Patients and Methods: The study included 159 male patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (n=102) and small cell lung carcinoma (n=57) who never received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and 35 healthy volunteers as controls. Serum TSA and LSA levels were determined by the methods of Warren and Katopodis, respectively.

Results: Serum TSA and LSA levels in both patient groups were significantly elevated when compared with controls (p<0.001), but the patient groups did not differ significantly in this respect. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that TSA was more specific and LSA was more sensitive in distinguishing patients with non-small cell carcinoma from healthy individuals. On the other hand, LSA was found to be more sensitive in distinguishing patients with small cell carcinoma from healthy controls.

Conclusion: Serum total and lipid-bound sialic acid may play an important role as biochemical markers in distinguishing patients with small and non-small cell lung carcinoma from healthy subjects.