Diagnostic Value of Serum CFL1 and TAGLN2 for Non-Metastatic Gastric Cancer - A Retrospective and Prospective Real-World Study

Sep 22, 2026

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Timely screening and diagnosis are pivotal for improving outcomes in gastric cancer, motivating the evaluation of two serum proteomic biomarkers. CFL1 and TAGLN2 were assessed in retrospective and prospective real-world cohorts, building on prior serum proteomics signals. Retrospective work included non-metastatic gastric cancer, healthy controls, and non-gastric non-metastatic cancers, while the prospective arm enrolled patients with unknown status and compared conventional markers. Findings showed ~80% sensitivity and >70% accuracy retrospectively, and 87.5% sensitivity with 100% specificity prospectively, supporting early detection. A combined marker panel with routine markers improved calibration and decision-curve benefit, suggesting multi-marker testing for efficient risk stratification.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

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Pages22

Reading Time55 min

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Introduction

Background and clinical need

Tumor biomarkers and detection technologies

Article Diagnostic Value of Serum CFL1 and TAGLN2 for Non-Metastatic Gastric Cancer: A Retrospective and Prospective Real-World Study Kewei Du 1,2,†, Shan Gao 1,†, Haichen Wang 3, Wenfei Hu 1, Caiyan Gao 4, Xiaoling Zheng 5, Xiaoqing Meng 6, Tuanjie Che 5,* and Shangdi Zhang 1, * Academic Editor: Alain P. Gobert Received: 7 April 2026 Revised: 11 May 2026 Accepted: 12 May 2026 Published: 14 May 2026 Copyright: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. 1 Laboratory Medicine Center, The Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China 2 Cuiying Biomedical Research Center, The Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China 3 School of Mathematics and Statistics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China 4 Department of Clinical Nutrition, The Second Hospital & Clinical Medical School, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, China 5 Innovation Center of Functional Genomics and Molecular Diagnostics Technology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730010, China 6 Lanzhou Centers for Animal Disease Control & Prevention, Lanzhou 730030, China * Correspondence: [zhangsd1985@126.com](zhangsd1985@126.com) (S.Z.); [chetj@126.com](chetj@126.com) (T.C.)† These authors contributed equally to this work. Simple Summary Gastric cancer is often difficult to detect at an early stage, when treatment is more likely to work. This study explores whether two proteins that can be measured in blood, Cofilin-1 and Transgelin-2, could help find gastric cancer in a less invasive way. The authors tested these proteins in samples from people with gastric cancer, healthy people, people with non-cancerous diseases or special clinical conditions, and people with other cancers. They also checked the results in both previously collected samples and newly collected samples. The findings suggest that these proteins may help separate gastric cancer from non-gastric conditions and could improve early detection. This work may give researchers practical blood-based markers to test in larger studies and support the development of easier tools for gastric cancer screening and diagnosis. Abstract Background: Timely screening and diagnosis are critical for improving prognosis and survival in gastric cancer. Building on prior serum proteomics findings, this study evaluated two novel early-stage diagnostic biomarkers, CFL1 and TAGLN2, using retrospective and prospective cohorts. Methods: Retrospective analysis included 176 non-metastatic gastric cancer patients, 88 healthy controls, and patients with non-gastric non-metastatic cancers/malignancies (n = 143). A prospective study enrolled 88 gastroenterology patients with unknown cancer status before sampling; conventional markers, including CEA, AFP, CA199, and CA125, were measured for comparison. Results: Retrospectively, CFL1 and TAGLN2 achieved approximately 80% sensitivity and >70% accuracy in distinguishing gastric cancer from controls. Prospectively, both markers reached 87.5% sensitivity and 100% specificity, with high NPV and low negative likelihood ratio, supporting their potential for early screening. CFL1 showed higher disease specificity and pre-analytical stability than TAGLN2 across multiple non-gastric cancers and special-condition samples. Conclusions: A combined panel with routine markers improved calibration and decision-curve benefit, suggesting that multi-marker testing can enhance risk stratification and screening efficiency. Keywords: gastric cancer; early diagnosis; tumor biomarkers; proteomics 1. Introduction Gastric cancer (GC) presently occupies the fifth position in global cancer incidence and the fourth in fatality rates. The incidence escalates with age, and there is a tendency for younger demographics to be impacted [1,2] . Gastric cancer has seve

FAQs

What clinical problem does the study address?

Early detection and accurate diagnosis of non-metastatic gastric cancer, where timely screening can improve prognosis and survival.

How were CFL1 and TAGLN2 evaluated?

Using both retrospective and prospective real-world cohorts, measuring serum protein biomarkers and comparing diagnostic performance with conventional tumor markers.

What diagnostic performance was reported for CFL1 and TAGLN2?

Retrospectively, the markers reached about 80% sensitivity and above 70% accuracy; prospectively, they reached 87.5% sensitivity and 100% specificity, supporting early screening potential.

Sep 22, 2026

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