Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid-Isolated Biomarkers for the Diagnostic and Prognostic Assessment of Lung Cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is considered one of the most fatal malignant neoplasms because of its late detection. Detecting molecular markers in samples from routine bronchoscopy, including many liquid-based cytology procedures, such as bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), could serve as a favorable technique to enhance the efficiency of a lung cancer diagnosis. BALF analysis is a promising approach to evaluating the tumor progression microenvironment. BALF’s cellular and non-cellular components dictate the inflammatory response in a cancer-proliferating microenvironment. Furthermore, it is an essential material for detecting clinically significant predictive and prognostic biomarkers that may aid in guiding treatment choices and evaluating therapy-induced toxicities in lung cancer. In the present article, we have reviewed recent literature about the utility of BALF analysis for detecting markers in different stages of tumor cell metabolism, employing either specific biomarker assays or broader omics approaches.

Parallel accumulation‐serial fragmentation method for in‐depth proteomic analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid collected from patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer

“…Therefore, understanding the alteration of NSCLC's TME will reinforce biomarkers identification for cancer diagnosis and appropriate therapeutic regimens. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) is believed to contain salient information about the TME, including protein biomarkers that potentially indicate tumorigenesis [5]. Recently, our group has developed new methods to enhance the quantitative analysis of BALF proteome and identified potential biomarkers for subtypes of patients with small‐cell lung cancers [6, 7].…”

Metabolomics Analysis and Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: Insights from Diverse Sample Types

“…Although BAL is a nearly noninvasive test, saline lavage often induces cough and other discomforts; therefore, 2% lidocaine is usually injected for tracheal local anesthesia. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid is rich in metabolically related biochemical substances and has a unique value in the diagnosis of respiratory diseases, including lung cancer 108 .…”

A Systematic Role of Metabolomics, Metabolic Pathways, and Chemical Metabolism in Lung Cancer

“…Due to its late identification, LC is one of the most lethal malignant neoplasms; whereas, by finding molecular markers in samples by conducting a normal bronchoscopy, and several liquid-based cytology methods, such as bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), the effectiveness for the diagnosis of LC can be improved [ 56 ]. BALF is a promising noninvasive source of protein biomarkers with good diagnostic specificity for LC, but the amount of research using BALF for markers needs to be increased [ 57 ].…”

“…According to the pertinent medical studies, tumor markers in the patient’s body’s bronchial lavage fluid had characteristics such as earlier appearance and higher concentrations compared with tumor markers in serum, making them more useful for early identification of LC [ 58 , 59 ]. With the help of BALF analysis, adverse effects linked to various treatment in the lungs can be detected and BALF cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing, whose potential clinical uses are to test for LC and mutations, is found to be more precise for the detection of mutations linked to LC [ 56 , 60 , 61 ].…”