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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Thoracic Oncology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1611244

This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in Biomarker-Based Lung Cancer ScreeningView all 13 articles

Methylation Detection in Percutaneous Lung Biopsy Preservation Fluid: A New Strategy to Improve Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Provisionally accepted
Guang  YangGuang Yang1Kai  FengKai Feng2Qing  TianQing Tian1Yanhong  YangYanhong Yang3Wenhao  WangWenhao Wang1*Huining  LiuHuining Liu1*
  • 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
  • 2Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hebei Petro China Central Hospital, Langfang, Hebei Province, China
  • 3The First hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Lung cancer, a major global health threat, has high incidence and mortality rates in China.Current diagnostic methods face challenges, especially in obtaining sufficient tissue samples for accurate diagnosis. This study aimed to develop a new strategy using percutaneous lung biopsy preservation fluid for gene methylation detection. A total of 182 patients who underwent percutaneous lung biopsy were included. The preservation fluid was replaced with a formalin -free solution for sample collection. DNA was extracted for methylation detection of SHOX2 and RASSF1A genes. The results showed that the DNA concentration qualification rate of the preservation fluid was 98.4%, and the internal reference Ct value qualification rate was 97.6%. New Cut -off values were established (△CtSHOX2 = 6.16, △CtRASSF1A = 6.85). The combined methylation detection had a sensitivity of 92.8% and a specificity of 94.7%. When combined with traditional morphological pathology, the sensitivity increased to 96.0%. The methylation detection was more sensitive than traditional pathology, especially for early -stage and unclassified lung cancer patients. It also compensated for 82.6% of tissue pathology missed diagnoses. In patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, the combined methylation detection showed 75.0% sensitivity in diagnosing tuberculosis complicated with lung cancer. In conclusion, methylation detection in percutaneous lung biopsy preservation fluid, combined with traditional pathology, can effectively reduce missed diagnoses and is worthy of further promotion.

Keywords: lung cancer, Percutaneous biopsy, preservation fluid, gene methylation, Diagnostic efficacy

Received: 14 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Feng, Tian, Yang, Wang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Wenhao Wang, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China
Huining Liu, Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China

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