title: Serum anti-osteopontin autoantibody as a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted phosphorylated and glycosylated protein, which plays an important role in carcinogenesis and metastasis. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), OPN is being investigated either as a therapeutic target gene or as a biomarker for diagnosis. Yet, the role of the anti-OPN autoantibody in HCC remains unclear. In the present study, the level of serum anti-OPN autoantibody in HCC was analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was also performed to analyze protein expression profiles and the prognostic significance of OPN in HCC. In this study, the prevalence and titer of anti-OPN autoantibodies in HCC were significantly higher than these values in normal human serum (NHS) (P=0.001, P=0.000, respectively). When both α-fetoprotein and the autoantibody against OPN were used simultaneously as diagnostic biomarkers, the sensitivity was up to 65%. In IHC, 59 of the 83 (65.6%) HCC specimens expressed OPN with cytoplasmic positive staining. The overall survival (OS) of HCC patients with OPN-positive tumors was 28.81 months compared to 39.37 months for HCC patients with OPN-negative tumors (P<0.01). Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that OPN overexpression was the strongest independent adverse prognostic factor for OS (P=0.02). Taken together, our data indicate that the anti-OPN autoantibody may be a supplementary serological biomarker for HCC, and is correlated with poor prognosis in HCC patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology Radiotherapy, Cangzhou Central Hospital, Cangzhou, Hebei 061001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jun-Lan
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chen-Chen
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xi-Jing
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Gui-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Li-Juan
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University Medical College, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Su-Xia
authors.initials: SX
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000276:immunology*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053495:Osteopontin / Q000276:immunology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055815:Young Adult; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins; D053495:Osteopontin