title: FOXP3 autoantibody as a potential early prognostic serum biomarker in patients with cervical cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Overexpression of tumor-associated antigens has been reported in many types of cancer and may trigger secretion of their autoantibodies. The present work was designed to test whether circulating antibody to FOXP3 protein-derived antigens was altered in early cervical cancer and cervical benign tumors.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 141 patients with cervical cancer, 133 patients with cervical benign tumors and 148 healthy age-matched volunteers were recruited. The level of circulating anti-FOXP3 IgG antibody was tested using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay developed in-house with linear peptide antigens derived from FOXP3 protein. The linear peptide antigens were designed according to the computational prediction of HLA-II epitopes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Student's t test showed that anti-FOXP3 IgG in the malignant tumor group and the benign tumor group was significantly higher than in the control group (t = 6.127, p < 0.001; t = 2.704, p = 0.007). In addition, patients with stage I cervical cancer (t = 2.968, p = 0.003) had a significantly higher level of FOXP3 autoantibodies than patients with benign tumors. The sensitivity against >90 % specificity was 20.6 % with an interassay deviation of 11.7 % in the cervical cancer group. Based on a cut-off value determined by the 98th percentile of the control group IgG levels, the anti-FOXP3 IgG positivity was 2.1 % in patients with cervical cancer compared to 2.0 % in the health controls (chi-squared = 0.004, p = 0.952, OR = 1.051, 95 % CI 0.209-5.295).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The circulating autoantibody to FOXP3 reflecting the continuous development of the cervical lesion, may be a potential biomarker with early prognostic values for cervical cancer.
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China.
authors: Shuang
authors: S
authors: Xu
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China.
authors: Mingmei
authors: M
authors: Huangfu
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China.
authors: Xueli
authors: X
authors: Jia
authors: Ministry of Health Key Laboratory of Radiobiology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China.
authors: Xiaowei
authors: X
authors: Song
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Tumor Hospital of Jilin Province, Changchun, 130012, China.
authors: Baosheng
authors: B
authors: Sun
authors: Pei-Ling Guan-Si Hospital, Hsin-Fu Kuansi Township, Hsinchu County, 30647, Taiwan.
authors: Kuang-Hui
authors: KH
authors: Lee
authors: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130041, China. linlinliucn@aliyun.com.
authors: Linlin
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Ministry of Health Key Laboratory of Radiobiology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China. sunsl77vip@hotmail.com.
authors: Shilong
authors: S
authors: Sun
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001323:Autoantibodies; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors
keywords: Autoantibody; Biomarkers; Cervical cancer; FOXP3; Tumor immunity