CCL7 as an Emerging Diagnostic Biomarker in Lung Cancer: Integrating Clinical Utility with Established Serum Markers and Risk Factors

Abstract

Most lung cancer patients are diagnosed late, making it one of the deadliest diseases worldwide. Thus, early diagnosis and clinical decision-making need reliable circulating biomarkers, and this review evaluates the diagnostic potential of blood biomarkers, including CEA, CYFRA 21-1, and the novel immune-related biomarker CCL7 (MCP-3), and evaluates biomarker sensitivity, diagnostic thresholds, and clinical application, over fifty peer-reviewed clinical trials and meta-analyses. The diagnostic sensitivity of CEA is 40% to 65% (AUC: 0.72-0.84), notably in lung adenocarcinoma, whereas CYFRA 21-1's is nearing 60% (AUC: 0.82-0.91), in squamous cell carcinoma, and is frequently utilized in tumor staging and treatment monitoring. Combining CEA and CYFRA 21-1 increased diagnostic sensitivity to 80% (AUC: 0.88-0.94) in many trials, demonstrating the potential of multi-marker diagnostic panels, and CCL7 is associated with tumor progression, metastasis, and immune cell recruitment in the tumor microenvironment, according to recent research. Thus, immune-functional indicators may enhance tumor diagnosis when combined with conventional markers. These findings suggest that multi-biomarker methods, particularly those incorporating chemokine-based markers like CCL7, may enhance lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. The finding highlights that CCL7 and other serum markers serve as effective early warning indicators and monitoring tools rather than static indicator, providing critical utility in tracking disease progression and treatment response in lung cancer patients.