Background
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with over 40% of patients diagnosed at stage IV, mainly due to difficulties in early detection.
Although low-dose CT (LDCT) screening assists in early diagnosis, its high false-positive rate demands more accurate and minimally invasive biomarkers.
In LDCT screening, about 5% of cases exhibit lung nodules with a 5% or higher risk of malignancy (Lung-RADS category 4);
however, most are benign, with actual lung cancers representing only 0.6% of the total screened population.
A diagnostic test is essential to avoid unnecessary invasive examinations and identify individuals at higher lung cancer risk.
Other liquid biopsy approaches using restricted range of biomarkers have diagnostic limitations for early-stage cancers.
