Abstract:Objective To investigate the correlation of tumor markers and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and its clinical significance in order to instruct the early clinical diagnosis of IPF. Methods We analyzed and compared 40 cases of patients with IPF, 50 cases of patients with lung cancer, and 40 healthy volunteers (the control group) who were admitted in General Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces from January, 2012 to September, 2015. we collected the tumor makers from the serum of all three teams above, such as serum cytokeratin19 fragment (CYFRA211), neuron specific enolase (NSE), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4) and cancer antigen 125 (CA125), et al. Results The serum level of CYFRA211 NSE SCC CEA CA125 in patients with IPF was significantly higher than healthy volunteers (P < 0.05), while the serum level of CA72-4 was comparable (P > 0.05). Compared with patients with lung cancer, the serum level of CA125 in patients with IPF was obviously higher than those with lung cancer (P < 0.05), the serum level of NSE was lower (P < 0.05), but serum level of other tumor markers in both groups had no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The positive rate of serum SCC and NSE in patients with IPF and lung cancer group had statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). The analysis of classification and comparison in lung cancer showed that the serum CA125 level in patients with IPF was higher than squamous cell carcinoma (P < 0.05), the serum SCC level/positive rate was significantly higher than that of adenocarcinoma and small cell lung(P < 0.05), the serum NSE level/positive rate was significantly lower than that of sub-groups of patients with lung cancer (P < 0.05), while other tumor markers had no statistical differences in the two groups (P > 0.05). Conclusions The serum level of CYFRA211 NSE SCC CEA and CA125 is significantly higher in IPF patients. The serum CA125 and SCC can be used as two early diagnosis markers of IPF, and serum level of NSE can be used as a predictor to distinguish the IPF and early lung cancer.