2023 · Journal of thoracic oncology : official publication of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer · paywalled
Early Detection of Lung Cancer Using Small RNAs
Sikosek et al.
The finding, in our words
A prospective study of 1384 individuals developed an 18-small RNA signature (miLung) for lung cancer detection, achieving an area under the curve of 0.86 in discovery and 0.83 in validation cohorts. Diagnostic performance increased with tumour stage, and dried blood spot collection suggests feasibility for home self-collection.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Capillary dried blood spots, after haematocrit-dependent conversion, showed good agreement with plasma for 25-hydroxyvitamin D quantification, with 90 per cent of results within 20 per cent of plasma and substantial to almost perfect agreement in status classification, supporting reliable home self-collection for large-scale vitamin D monitoring.
The study found that although participants preferred patient-centric microsampling devices for home use, the agreement with venous plasma for measuring CRP and cytokines was inconsistent, indicating that further validation is required before these methods replace standard venipuncture.
In a 20-person proof-of-concept pilot among veterans with HIV, remote self-collection of dried blood spots for phosphatidylethanol monitoring was feasible and acceptable, with high return and analysis rates and positive feedback; a small first step toward decentralised alcohol biomarker monitoring rather than proof of it.
Capillary finger-stick dried blood spots demonstrated strong analytical agreement with venous serum for prostate-specific antigen (R² = 0.987) and remained stable for 31 days across a wide temperature range. This less invasive microsampling approach enables at-home self-collection, supporting decentralised screening and tele-diagnostics for prostate cancer.
The study found that coached dried blood spot collection was feasible for remote biobehavioural assessment of CTRA gene expression among Black women activists, with usable data from 28 of 29 participants at baseline and 27 at follow-up. Within-person increases in activist identity and search for meaning were associated with more favourable CTRA gene expression changes, though mean CTRA did not shift across the group over the two-month period.