This meta-analysis evaluated whether pretherapy serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin-19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1) are predictive of response to therapy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and whether changes in these markers during vs pretherapy are indicative of response.

Original peer-reviewed studies enrolling adults with untreated advanced NSCLC were identified using PubMed. Two reviewers independently extracted data from eligible studies and assessed study heterogeneity and the risk of study bias.

Fourteen studies were eligible; 11 had objective response as an end point and three evaluated clinical benefit (i.e., response and stable disease). Study bias was relatively low. Both markers showed comparable modest predictive value across studies, with baseline CYFRA 21-1 numerically better in predicting treatment benefit. A good performance in identifying objective response during treatment was seen (AUC 0.724 (95% CI 0.667-0.785) for CYFRA 21-1 and 0.728 (95% CI, 0.599-0.871) for CEA). A decline in CYFRA 21-1 levels during treatment was highly indicative for objective response (sensitivity 79.1% (95% CI 71.5-85.1)).

Comprehensive analysis of study heterogeneity and bias provides a high level of evidence for the clinical utility of CEA and CYFRA 21-1 for the prediction and monitoring of response in NSCLC.British Journal of Cancer advance online publication, 9 March 2017; doi:10.1038/bjc.2017.45 www.bjcancer.com.