title: Circulating antibodies to p16 protein-derived peptides in breast cancer.
abstract: Overexpression of the p16 protein has been reported in breast cancer and may trigger the secretion of antibodies against itself. Circulating anti-p16 antibodies that were detected with a recombinant protein have been reported in breast cancer. The present study was designed to determine whether the levels of circulating IgG antibody to p16 protein-derived linear antigens are altered in breast cancer. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed in-house to determine circulating IgG against peptide antigens derived from the p16 protein in 152 female breast cancer patients and 160 healthy female subjects. The Student's T-test revealed that breast cancer patients exhibited significantly higher levels of anti-p16 IgG antibody compared to control subjects (T=2.02, P=0.045). In addition, ductal cancer appeared to be the main type contributing to the increased levels of circulating anti-p16 antibodies (T=2.08, P=0.038). Of all four stages of breast cancer, stage I was associated with the highest levels of IgG antibody (T=2.02, P=0.045) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that the area under the ROC curve was 0.74 (95% confidence interval: 0.65-083) and that the sensitivity against a specificity of 90% was 30.3%. Therefore, the levels of circulating IgG antibody to the p16 protein may be a potential biomarker for early diagnosis of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cairen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yile
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and MH Radiobiology Research Unit, Jilin University, Changchun 130118, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Cong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Surgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, P.R. China.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shuli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and MH Radiobiology Research Unit, Jilin University, Changchun 130118, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shilong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: School of Clinical Laboratory Science, Guangdong Medical College, Dongguan 523808, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qingyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yubing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Division of Health Research, University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for Health Science, Inverness IV2 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
keywords: autoantibody; biomarker; breast cancer; p16 protein; tumor immunity