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HLA-G as a new tumor biomarker: detection of soluble isoforms of HLA-G in the serum and saliva of patients with colorectal cancer

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Abstract

Introduction

Recent medical investigations suggest that HLA-G, due to its tolerogenic properties, can be used as a biomarker in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of different neoplasms. This observational prospective pilot study aims at detecting sHLA-G in the serum and saliva of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). For this purpose, we compared the expression of sHLA-G from patients with a control sample from a healthy population.

Materials and methods

Using the specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, the expression of sHLA-G in the serum and saliva samples from patients affected by CRC (n = 20) and in a control sample (n = 10) were analyzed.

Results

The data showed that in patients with CRC, salivary sHLA-G values were significantly higher than in the control group (18.84 U/ml versus 6.3 U/ml, p = 0.036). In addition, higher levels of sHLA-G were observed in the saliva of patients with CRC in more advanced stages, compared with patients in early stages (24.2 U/ml vs. 8.1 U/ml, p = 0.019). A significant correlation was observed between the concentration of sHLA-G in the serum and saliva of the analyzed samples (Spearman correlation 0.7, p = 0.004).

Conclusions

This study demonstrates, for the first time, the possibility of detecting sHLA-G in the saliva of patients with CRC, resulting in a less invasive alternative to venipuncture. Likewise, we propose that sHLA-G could be an attractive molecular target based on its significant high levels in advanced stages.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the collaboration of the study participants, the Department of Clinical Medicine of the Miguel Hernández University, as well as the nursing team, administrative staff, and physicians of the Medical Oncology Service of the Sant Joan d'Alacant Hospital. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Oncology Service of the University Hospital of Sant Joan d’Alacant, Ctra. Nnal. 332, s/n, 03550, Alicante, Spain

    A. D. Lázaro-Sánchez, P. Salces-Ortiz, N. Díaz-Fernández & A. Juárez-Marroquí

  2. Department of Clínical Medicine of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Alicante, Spain

    L. I. Velásquez & D. Orozco-Beltrán

Authors
  1. A. D. Lázaro-Sánchez
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  2. P. Salces-Ortiz
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  3. L. I. Velásquez
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  5. N. Díaz-Fernández
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Correspondence to A. D. Lázaro-Sánchez.

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The authors declare that there is no confilct of interest with respect to the publication of this document.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Department of Health of the University Hospital of Sant Joan d'Alacant (Committee code: 17/332). All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Lázaro-Sánchez, A.D., Salces-Ortiz, P., Velásquez, L.I. et al. HLA-G as a new tumor biomarker: detection of soluble isoforms of HLA-G in the serum and saliva of patients with colorectal cancer. Clin Transl Oncol 22, 1166–1171 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-019-02244-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-019-02244-2

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