Background: The p53 protein overexpression that usually results from genetic alterations has been reported to induce serum antibodies against p53. There is little information about the clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of preoperative serum p53 antibody in patients with esophageal cancer.
Methods: A highly specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to analyze serum p53 antibodies in 105 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The cutoff level of 1.3 U/mL was used to indicate seropositive patients, and the cutoff level of 10 U/mL was used to identify high titer patients. At 3 months after surgery, seropositive patients were examined again.
Results: A total of 28 patients (26.7%) were positive for serum p53 antibodies. The patients who remained seropositive were more likely to develop tumor recurrence (P =.025). Seropositive patients had worse outcome than seronegative patients. The high titer group had significant association with advanced tumor stages and worse outcomes than the low titer group. High serum p53 antibody titer was an independent prognostic factor (P <.001).
Conclusions: We found that serum p53 antibody was useful to detect esophageal cancer and to identify those with a high risk of tumor recurrence and a poor prognosis.