ELMO3 is a novel biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer.

To investigated the diagnostic and prognostic value of engulfment and cell motility (ELMO3) in non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The expression of ELMO3 at mRNA levels were detected using reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in 125 NSCLC patients' tissues and adjacent tissues, as well as in the serum of 125 NSCLC patients and 89 healthy controls. Then, receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis were adopted to estimate the potential diagnostic and prognostic value of ELMO3, respectively. ELMO3 expression level was significantly up-regulated in NSCLC patients' tissues and serum compared with controls (P<0.001). Moreover, the expression of ELMO3 was significantly associated with tumor size (P=0.020), TNM stage (P=0.017), lymph node metastasis (PP=0.045) and distance metastasis (P=0.033). ROC showed the AUC was 0.917, and the optimal cutoff value was 0.735, providing a sensitivity of 92.8% and a specificity of 84.3%. Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated the high expression of ELMO3 could lead to a shorter overall survival time. In multivariate analysis, ELMO3 expression (HR=3.378, 95% CI=1.326-8.587, P=0.011) was proved to be linked with the prognosis of NSCLC and might act as an independent prognostic marker. The over-expression of ELMO3 was a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for NSCLC.