Serum autoantibody profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients reveals NUBP2 as a potential diagnostic marker

Riaz Abdulla; Jofy Devasia Puthenpurackal; Sneha M Pinto; Punchappady Devasya Rekha; Yashwanth Subbannayya

doi:10.3389/fonc.2023.1167691

Serum autoantibody profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients reveals NUBP2 as a potential diagnostic marker

Front Oncol. 2023 Sep 22:13:1167691. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1167691. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Riaz Abdulla¹, Jofy Devasia Puthenpurackal¹, Sneha M Pinto^{2

3}, Punchappady Devasya Rekha², Yashwanth Subbannayya^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Yenepoya Dental College, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, India.
² Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Mangalore, India.
³ School of Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Introduction: Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), a common malignancy of the head and neck region, is frequently diagnosed at advanced stages, necessitating the development of efficient diagnostic methods. Profiling autoantibodies generated against tumor-associated antigens have lately demonstrated a promising role in diagnosis, predicting disease course, and response to therapeutics and relapse.

Methods: In the current study, we, for the first time, aimed to identify and evaluate the diagnostic value of autoantibodies in serum samples of patients with OSCC using autoantibody profiling by an immunome protein array. The utility of anti-NUBP2 antibody and tissue positivity in OSCC was further evaluated.

Results and discussion: We identified a total of 53 autoantibodies with significant differential levels between OSCC and control groups, including 25 that were increased in OSCC and 28 that were decreased. These included autoantibodies against Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1), nucleotide-binding protein 2 (NUBP2), and protein pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase 1 (PYCR1), among others. Immunohistochemical validation indicated positive staining of NUBP2 in a large majority of cases (72%). Further, analysis of OSCC data available in TCGA revealed higher NUBP2 expression correlated with better disease-free patient survival. In conclusion, the differential serum autoantibodies identified in the current study, including those for NUBP2, could be used as potential biomarkers for early diagnosis or as screening biomarkers for OSCC pending investigation in a larger cohort.

Keywords: autoantibodies; biomarkers; early detection; liquid biopsy; screening biomarkers.