title: Tumor-associated autoantibodies as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
abstract: In the process of tumorigenesis, normal cells are remodeled to cancer cells and protein expression patterns are changed to those of tumor cells. A newly formed tumor microenvironment elicits the immune system and, as a result, a humoral immune response takes place. Although the tumor antigens are undetectable in sera at the early stage of tumorigenesis, the nature of an antibody amplification response to antigens makes tumor-associated autoantibodies as promising early biomarkers in cancer diagnosis. Moreover, the recent development of proteomic techniques that make neo-epitopes of tumor-associated autoantigens discovered concomitantly has opened a new area of 'immuno-proteomics', which presents tumor-associated autoantibody signatures and confers information to redefine the process of tumorigenesis. In this article, the strategies recently used to identify and validate serum autoantibodies are outlined and tumor-associated antigens suggested until now as diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers in various tumor types are reviewed. Also, the meaning of autoantibody signatures and their clinical utility in personalized medicine are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Biomarkers Development Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Daejeon 305-806, Korea.
authors.forename: Chang-Kyu
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: Young Yil
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Bahk
authors.forename: Eun-Wie
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D011379:Prognosis; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D040901:Proteomics
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor