The invention relates generally to the field of
cancer detection, diagnosis,
subtyping, staging, prognosis, treatment and prevention. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods for the detection, and / or diagnosing and / or
subtyping and / or staging of
lung cancer in a patient. Based on a particular panel of biomarkers, the present invention provides methods to detect, diagnose at an early stage and / or differentiate
small cell lung cancer (SCLC) from non-
small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and within NSCLC to differentiate between squamous
cell carcinomas (SCC), adenocarcinomas (AC), within SCC to discriminate G2 and G3 stage and within
lung cancer to differentiate for lung cancers with or without neuroendocrine origin. It further provides the use of said panel of biomarkers in monitoring
disease progression in a patient, including both
in vitro and
in vivo imaging techniques. The
in vitro imaging techniques typically include an
immunoassay detecting
protein or
antibody of the biomarkers on a sample taken from said patient, e.g. serum or
tissue sample. The
in vivo imaging techniques typically include chest radiographs (X-rays),
Computed Tomography (CT) imaging,
spiral CT,
Positron Emission
Tomography (PET), PET-CT and scintigraphy for
molecular imaging and diagnosis and to monitor
disease progression and
treatment response in patients. It is accordingly a further aspect to provide a kit to perform the aforementioned diagnosing and / or
subtyping and / or staging
assay and the imaging techniques, comprising reagents to determine the
gene expression or
protein level of the aforementioned panel of biomarkers for
in vitro and
in vivo applications.