Table 5 Diagnostic utility of bFGF, IL-9, IL-18, TNF-alpha, and TNF-beta in differentiating papillary thyroid cancer patients from nodular thyroid goiter patients.

From: Preliminary results suggest the potential of evaluating combined bFGF and TNF-β concentrations for differentiating papillary thyroid cancer from benign nodular goiter

Protein [pg/mL]

Cut-off

Youden index

AUC ± SE

Se [%]

CI

Sp [%]

CI

PPV [%]

NPV [%]

ACC [%]

p-value

bFGF

23.99

0.35

0.671 ± 0.073

81 (0.677–0.948)

54 (0.347–0.730)

68

70

69

0.0191

IL-9

291.23

0.28

0.663 ± 0.071

63 (0.457–0.793)

65 (0.471–0.837)

69

59

64

0.0218

IL-18

37.29

0.39

0.674 ± 0.074

81 (0.677–0.948)

58 (0.387–0.767)

71

70

71

0.0181

TNF-alpha

69.23

0.30

0.696 ± 0.069

53 (0.358–0.704)

77 (0.607–0.931)

74

57

64

0.0043

TNF-beta

559.58

0.42

0.720 ± 0.066

50 (0.327–0.673)

92 (0.821–1.026)

89

60

69

0.0009

  1. Confidence intervals (CIs) for sensitivity and specificity were calculated at a 95% confidence level (1-α = 0.95) using the C.I. Calculator: Diagnostic Statistics software (https://www2.ccrb.cuhk.edu.hk/stat/confidence%20interval/Diagnostic%20Statistic.htm).
  2. bFGF basic fibroblast growth factor, CI confidence interval, IL-9 interleukin-9, IL-18 interleukin-18, TNF-alpha tumor necrosis factor alpha, TNF-beta tumor necrosis factor beta, ACC diagnostic accuracy, AUC area under the ROC curve; Cut-off (based on the highest Youden index), NPV negative predictive value, PPV positive predictive value, Se diagnostic sensitivity, SE standard error, Sp diagnostic specificity.
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