Published in:
01-07-2017 | Research Article
Circulating levels of autoantibodies against L1-cell adhesion molecule as a potential diagnostic biomarker in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma
Authors:
Y.-W. Xu, Y.-H. Peng, L.-Q. Ran, T.-T. Zhai, H.-P. Guo, S.-Q. Qiu, H.-L. Chen, Z.-Y. Wu, E.-M. Li, J.-J. Xie
Published in:
Clinical and Translational Oncology
|
Issue 7/2017
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Abstract
Background
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a common malignant disease worldwide, especially in China. We aimed to determine the level of autoantibodies against L1CAM in patients with ESCC.
Methods
Levels of circulating autoantibodies against L1CAM antigens were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in cohort 1 (191 patients with ESCC and 94 normal controls) and validated in cohort 2 (47 patients with ESCC and 47 normal controls). Receiver-operating characteristics were employed to calculate diagnostic accuracy. Cumulative survival time was calculated by the Kaplan–Meier method and analyzed by the log-rank test.
Results
In cohorts 1 and 2, levels of autoantibodies against L1CAM were all significantly higher in sera of patients with ESCC compared to normal controls (P < 0.05). Detection of autoantibodies against L1CAM provided a sensitivity of 26.2%, a specificity of 90.4%, and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.603 (95% CI 0.535–0.672) in diagnosing ESCC in cohort 1, and a sensitivity of 27.7%, a specificity of 91.5%, and an AUC of 0.628 (95% CI 0.516–0.741). Similar results were observed in the diagnosis of early stage ESCC (25.2% sensitivity, 90.4% specificity, and an AUC of 0.611 (95% CI 0.533–0.689) in cohort 1, and 33.3% sensitivity, 91.5% specificity, and an AUC of 0.636 (95% CI 0.439–0.832) in cohort 2). Moreover, positive rates of autoantibodies against L1CAM had no statistical correlation with clinical outcome of ESCC (P > 0.05).
Conclusions
Our results suggest that circulating autoantibodies against L1CAM is a potential biomarker for the early detection of ESCC.