Evaluation and characterization of anti-RalA autoantibody as a potential serum biomarker in human prostate cancer.
Autoantibodies against intracellular tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are commonly found in human cancers. In this study, we characterized the serum autoantibody response to the RalA, Ras-like GTPase, in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). The autoantibodies were detected by immunofluorescence assay in PCa cell lines, ELISA, and immunoblotting in 339 serum samples from patients with PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and in normal human sera (NHS). The expression of RalA in prostate tumor tissues was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in tumor microarrays. The autoantibody level to RalA (median) in NHS was significantly lower than in PCa (0.053 vs 0.138; P < 0.001) and BPH (0.053 vs 0.132; P < 0.005) groups. The circulating anti-RalA autoantibody could distinguish PCa patients from normal individuals with the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) performing at 0.861, with sensitivity of 52.9% and specificity of 91.0%. Elevation in serum immunoreactivity was observed in PCa patients after radical prostatectomy. The combined use of both anti-RalA autoantibody and PSA showed a significantly higher discriminatory ability compared with either of those markers alone. RalA protein expression was detected by IHC in 85.3% of tumor tissues from PCa patients, but without significant difference compared to BPH or normal control tissues. Together, our study shows the additional benefits of anti-RalA autoantibody as a potential serological biomarker for PCa, particularly in patients with normal PSA, and further demonstrate the utility of biomarker combinations in the immunodiagnosis of PCa.
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Jitian
J
Li
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.|Henan Key Laboratory of Tumor Epidemiology and Henan Academy of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
Liping
L
Dai
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Ningjing
N
Lei
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Mengtao
M
Xing
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Pei
P
Li
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Chenglin
C
Luo
Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine, Department of Basic Sciences, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, CA 92354, USA.
Carlos A
CA
Casiano
Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.|Henan Key Laboratory of Tumor Epidemiology and Henan Academy of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450052, China.
Jian-Ying
JY
Zhang
D000368:Aged; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood; D015153:Blotting, Western; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011467:Prostate / Q000473:pathology; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood; D011470:Prostatic Hyperplasia / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D012372:ROC Curve; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen; C492198:RALA protein, human; D020725:ral GTP-Binding Proteins
autoantibody; cancer immunodiagnosis; prostate cancer; tumor-associated antigens (TAAs)