Xue R, Sheng Y, Duan X, et al. - Whether Tie2‐expressing monocytes (TEMs) have clinical value in the early diagnosis of lung cancer was investigated, as well as its correlation with angiogenesis in this study with 184 patients suffering from non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 101 patients experiencing benign pulmonary disease (BPD), and 77 healthy controls. In peripheral blood monocytes, a significantly higher TEM frequency was detected in patients with NSCLC vs in patients with BPD and healthy controls. There was an association of TEM frequency with NSCLC recurrence. Poor overall survival was observed in relation to high percentage of TEMs in the peripheral blood. In ROC curve analysis, a potential diagnostic ability was seen in circulating TEM frequency in NSCLC. Overall, TEM frequency seemed to be associated with angiogenesis in tumor tissues and could be a diagnostic marker for NSCLC.