Ultrasonic diagnosis combined with targeted ultrasound contrast agent improves diagnostic sensitivity of ultrasonic for non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most prevalent human cancers, which is known for local growth, easily migration, long-distance invasion and reoccurrence. Targeted ultrasound (US) contrast combined with ultrasound for lung cancer diagnosis has been applied in the clinic. In the present study, a novel targeted ultrasound contrast agent containing chistosan/Fe3O4-parceled bispecific antibody (TcBab) targeting carcino-embryonic antigen, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor was introduced, and the diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity was investigated in patients with NSCLC. A total of 384 patients with suspected NSCLC were recruited to investigate the accuracy of TcBab-ultrasound (TcBab-US) and ultrasound. Results demonstrated that TcBab-US improved sensitivity and may provide a novel protocol for diagnosing tumors in patients with suspected NSCLC at an early stage. Data analysis demonstrated that TcBab-US diagnosed 154 suspected patients with NSCLC, whereas ultrasound only diagnosed 84 suspected patients with NSCLC out of a total of 384 patients with suspected NSCLC (P<0.01). A dosage experiment revealed that the optimal dose of TcBab was 5 mg/kg for NSCLC patients. Pharmacodynamics analysis showed that TcBab may be metabolized within 16 h in serum of patients. Notably, early diagnosis determined by TcBab-US contributed to improvement of survival for NSCLC patients as determined by a comparison of the survival rate with the survival rate of patients who did not receive TcBab (P<0.05). In conclusion, these investigations suggested that TcBab improves the accuracy and diagnostic confidence of ultrasonic for the diagnosis of early-stage NSCLC, and may have potential application value in the clinic.