We investigated the presence of autoantibodies as immuno-biomarkers to a panel of tumour-associated antigens in a group of individuals with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a disease group which has a poor overall cancer prognosis and therefore may benefit most from early diagnosis.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Sera from 243 patients with confirmed SCLC and normal controls matched for age, sex and smoking history, were analysed for the presence of these early immuno-biomarkers (ie autoantibodies to p53, CAGE, NY-ESO-1, GBU4-5, Annexin I, SOX2 and Hu-D) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
RESULTS: Autoantibodies were seen to at least 1 of 6 antigens in 55% of all the SCLC patients' sera tested, with a specificity of 90% compared to controls. Using a higher assay cut-off to achieve a specificity of 99%, autoantibodies were still detectable in 42% of SCLC patients (receiver operator characteristic area under the curve, 0.76). There was no significant difference in sensitivity when analysed by stage of the cancer, or by patient age or gender. The frequency of autoantibodies to individual antigens varied, ranging from 4% for GBU4-5 to 35% for SOX2. Levels of Annexin I autoantibodies were not elevated in patients with SCLC. Antibodies were also detected in four separate patients, whose sera were taken up to three months before tumor diagnosis.
CONCLUSIONS: The presence of an autoantibody to one or more cancer-associated antigens may provide an important addition to the armamentarium available to the clinician to aid early cancer detection in high-risk individuals.
Authors: Chapman CJ, Thorpe AJ, Murray A, Parsy-Kowalska C, Allen J, Stafford K, Chauhan A, Kite T, Maddison P, Robertson J
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