Infrared spectroscopy of blood serum predicts tumor stage and survival in lung cancer patients

Background Robust diagnostic and prognostic tools to guide treatment in lung cancer patients are urgently needed. While infrared molecular fingerprinting of cell-free blood has been proposed as a new diagnostic tool in some diseases (“liquid biopsy”), its potential in lung cancer patients’ stratification and prediction of survival remained unexplored. The aim of this study is to investigate the accuracy in predicting tumor stage and survival in lung cancer patients.

Methods & Materials 317 patients with lung cancer admitted for surgical or oncological treatment and 184 control patients admitted at the Asklepios Lung Clinic Gauting between 2018 and 2023 were included in this case-control study. Patients’ blood serum collected before specific treatment was analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. ROC analysis was used to evaluate the prognostic potential of the FTIR in predicting lung cancer stage. Follow up was assessed by Machine learning and Kaplan Meier survival analysis.

Results A strong correlation between infrared fingerprinting and tumor stage (UICC stage I: AUC 0.62 ± 0.22; stage II: AUC 0.74 ± 0.21; stage III: AUC 0.85 ± 0.08; stage IV: AUC 0.91 ± 0.04, p< 0.0001) as well as tumor specific markers (e.g. NSE 0.64 ± 0.15 and CYFRA-21-1 0.72 ± 0.10) was reported. Furthermore, a robust correlation between infrared fingerprinting and overall survival with an increasing stage-dependent hazard ratio for all non-censored patients (Pearson correlation coefficient r=0.56, p<0.0001) was observed.

Conclusion Infrared molecular fingerprinting is a new diagnostic tool that can be used in lung cancer disease stratification. This study shows, for the first time, a robust correlation between infrared fingerprinting and lung cancer stage and survival. This technique will be further analyzed in large patients’ cohorts to evaluate its role in the context of lung cancer screening.

Publication History

Article published online:
25 August 2025