Nagashio et al. showed that VIL1 was specifically expressed in adenocarcinoma and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma in sera from pulmonary carcinoma patients, suggesting VIL1 as a useful marker to distinguish adenocarcinoma/large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma from squamous cell carcinoma/small cell carcinoma in lung cancer55. Here, VIL1 is linked to adenocarcinoma.