For the analytes associated with active LN, the ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC of CSF1, sIL15RA, sCD40, sCX3CL1, caspase 8, sIL18R1, bNGF, and GDNF were 0.873, 0.857, 0.854, 0.832, 0.798, 0.783, 0.780, and 0.778, respectively (Additional file 1: Figure S3b, Table S5b). This evidence concerns the gene GDNF and lobular neoplasia.