Diagnostic Value of Autoantibodies against Ezrin in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), one of the most common malignancies worldwide, is a highly aggressive and homogeneous entity occurring in esophageal squamous epithelium, and a reliable noninvasive test for early detection is needed. A recent study showed that serum autoantibodies against Ezrin could be detected in patients with pancreatic cancer. Here, we assessed whether autoantibodies against Ezrin could have diagnostic relevance for early ESCC. We analyzed autoantibodies against Ezrin in sera of 98 normal controls and 149 patients with ESCC. Ezrin autoantibodies levels were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results showed that higher levels of autoantibodies against Ezrin were observed in serum samples from patients with ESCC than in serum from normal controls (P < 0.0001). Based on a cutoff value of 0.319, the sensitivity and specificity of autoantibodies against Ezrin for diagnosis of ESCC were 27.5% and 95.9%, respectively. Compared with normal controls, the positive rate of autoantibodies against Ezrin was significantly elevated in patients with early-stage ESCC (P < 0.0001). Moreover, there was no significant difference of positivity of autoantibodies against Ezrin in ESCC patients categorized according to age, gender, tumor size, tumor invasion depth, tumor site, histological grade, lymph node status, or tumor stage. Our study indicates that the presence of autoantibodies against Ezrin is significantly associated with ESCC.

Serum Autoantibodies against STIP1 as a Potential Biomarker in the Diagnosis of Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…This study shows that autoantibodies against STIP1 have sensitivities of 35.7% (95% CI: 22.0–52.0%) in the training cohort and 38.5% (95% CI: 15.1%–67.7%) in the validation cohort to diagnose early-stage ESCC. Such sensitivity is better than the recently identified autoantibody biomarkers in early-stage ESCC reported by our team, including autoantibodies against ezrin, fascin, and L1CAM [ 23 , 34 , 35 ], which indicates that autoantibodies against STIP1 might be an encouraging candidate for establishment of an optimized autoantibody signature required to gain high sensitivity necessary for ESCC screening. In the next stage of the research, we will further evaluate whether the combination of autoantibodies against STIP1 with other autoantibody targets would increase the diagnostic sensitivity of our previously reported autoantibody panel [ 22 ].…”

“…In recent years, there is no doubt that autoantibodies against TAAs have been a hot topic of research in early cancer diagnosis. Since autoantibodies against TAA in the sera of melanoma patients were first reported [ 27 ], a huge number of autoantibodies have been reported as early diagnostic biomarkers for cancers [ 9 – 11 , 21 – 23 , 28 – 30 ]. EarlyCDT-Lung, as a convenient blood test measuring autoantibodies against seven TAAs, shows the ability to aid in risk assessment and the early detection of lung cancer in high-risk, asymptomatic patients [ 31 , 32 ].…”

“…ESCC was diagnosed and defined in our previous study [ 22 , 23 ]. We defined tumor stage in accordance with the Seventh Edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Cancer Staging Manual [ 24 ].…”

“…The expression, purification, and analysis of the recombinant STIP1 proteins were conducted as previously described [ 22 , 23 ]. Briefly, the coding sequence region of STIP1 (NM_006819) was subcloned into the pDEST17 vector system (Invitrogen).…”

Prediction of combination therapy efficacy in patients with locally advanced squamous cell oropharyngeal carcinoma

“…Эзрин, связывая фибриллярный актин и клеточную мембрану, участвует в ремоделировании цитоскелета и межклеточной адгезии [23]. Плоскоклеточная карцинома с повышенной экспрессией эзрина характеризуется высокими инвазивными и метастатическими свойствами [24]. В литературе крайне мало данных о сывороточном содержании актин-связывающих белков.…”