ABSTRACT
Fibro-optic bronchoscopy (FB) examinations were undertaken in 42 cases with lung cancer and 25 cases with benign lung disease; methylation-specific PCR was performed in plasma, sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) specimen for detection of p16 gene promoter methylation in all patients.Of the 42 cases of lung cancer, the positive rates of p16 gene promoter methylation were 59.5% in BALF, 52.4% in plasma and 47.6% in sputum, respectively; while p16 gene promoter methylation was detected only in one plasma sample from 25 cases with benign lung disease ( P ＜ 0.05 ).The sensitivity,specificity and overall accuracy of FB were 59.5%, 100.0% and 74.6%, respectively.The sensitivity,specificity and overall accuracy of FB combined with aberrant p16 gene methylation in diagnosis of lung cancer were 92.9%, 96.2% and 94.0%, respectively.The FB examinations combined with detection of aberrant p16 gene methylation can further improve the accuracy to diagnosis of lung cancer.