Detection of autoantibodies to a panel of tumor-associated antigens for the diagnosis values of gastric cardia adenocarcinoma

Abstract

To evaluate the diagnostic values of using autoantibodies in sera to a panel of eight tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) of P53, Koc, P62, C-myc, IMP1, Survivn, P16 and Cyclin B1 full-length recombinant proteins for early detection of patients with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma (GCA) and high-risk subjects screening. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect autoantibodies against the eight selected TAAs in 383 sera samples from four groups, including 140 subjects with normal gastric cardia epithelia (NOR), 76 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG), 79 patients with gastric cardia dysplasia (DYS) and 88 patients with GCA. In addition, the expression of the eight antigens was analyzed in gastric cardia tissues by immunohistochemical method. The individual autoantibodies to six TAAs (P53, P62, IMP1, Survivn P16 and Cyclin B1) were significantly higher in sera from patients with GCA than that in normal subjects (P < 0.05). When autoantibody assay successively accumulated to seven TAAs (P53, Koc, P62, C-myc, IMP1, Survivn and P16), a stepwise increased detection frequency of autoantibodies was found in the four sera groups (13% in NOR, 39% in CAG, 46% in DYS, and 64% in GCA, respectively), the risks to CAG, DYS and GCA steadily increased about 4.4-, 5.7- and 12.0-fold. The sensitivity and the specificity for autoantibodies against the seven TAAs in diagnosing GCA reached up to 64% and 87%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the seven anti-TAA autoantibodies was 0.73 (95%CI: 0.68-0.78) No more increase in sensitivity was found with the addition of new anti-TAA autoantibodies. A combination detection of autoantibodies to TAAs might be helpful to distinguish GCA patients from normal subjects and the patients with gastric cardia precancerous lesions. In addition, further studies in patients with GCA and precancerous lesions using enlarged TAA panels might improve the sensitivity and specificity of cancer detection and high-risk subjects screening.

Keywords: autoantibodies; gastric cardia adenocarcinoma; precancerous lesion; tumor-associated antigens (TAAs).