Autoantibodies Combined With Tumor Markers Detect Lung Cancer

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 26 May 2022

Image: UniCel DxI 800 Access Immunoassay System (Photo courtesy of Beckman Coulter)

Lung cancer (LC) is one of the most common cancers in the world and is the primary cause of cancer-related death. According to the pathological type, LC can be categorized into small cell LC (SCLC) and non-small cell LC (NSCLC). NSCLC includes squamous cell carcinoma (LSC), adenocarcinoma (LAC), and large cell cancer.

Gene mutation and recombination occur in cells in the early stage of disease, and related antigens are released. These antigens are recognized by the immune system, which produces antibodies against the antigen as autoantibodies for lung cancer. The autoantibodies can be detected in the blood during the first five years of imaging diagnosis of LC due to the sensitivity and stability of the immune system.

Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Ningbo Medical Center (Ningbo, China) included in a study 780 patients with pulmonary nodules: 633 patients diagnosed with LC and 147 patients with benign lung disease. Among 633 patients with LC, 314 were male with an average age of 60 years (range, 17–83 years), and 319 were female with an average age of 59 years (range, 25–85 years).

ELISA was used to detect the levels of the autoantibodies (TAAbs), and chemiluminescence immunoassay was used to test the levels of the tumor markers. The diagnostic efficacy of the TAAbs combined with the tumor markers for lung cancer was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Seven TAAbs were detected using assay kits (Hangzhou Cancer probe Biotech Company, Hangzhou City. China) and the levels of the TAAbs were measured with Microplate Reader (ST360, Shanghai Kehua Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China; Website). The three tumor markers were detected using Unicel DxI800 (Beckman Coulter, Brea, CA, USA).

The team reported that the positive rate of the combined detection of seven TAAbs and three tumor markers in lung cancer (37.8%) was higher than that in other three groups. The positive rates of SOX2, GAGE7, MAGE A1, CAGE, CYFRA21-1, and SCCA had differences among the four groups. Compared with the benign lung disease group, only GAGE7, CYFRA21-1, and SCCA differed among the groups. The combined sensitivity of the TAAbs was 29.1% (AUC, 0.594), the combined sensitivity of all the markers was 37.8% (AUC, 0.660), and Youden's index was 0.196. In the lung cancer group, CYFRA21-1 had a significant difference in age and sex, and SOX2, MAGE A1, CYFRA21-1, NSE, and SCCA were significantly different in pathological type and tumor–node–metastasis (TNM). In contrast, p53 and GBU4-5 showed no significant differences in age, sex, pathological type, and TNM.

The authors concluded that the combination of these seven TAAbs and three tumor markers could be useful in early diagnosis of LC, and the efficiency of combined detection was better than that of individual detection. The study was published on May 21, 2022 in Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis.

Related Links:
Ningbo Medical Center
Hangzhou Cancer probe Biotech Company
Shanghai Kehua Biotechnology
Beckman Coulter