Abstract
BackgroundElevation of soluble major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A (sMICA) products in serum has been linked to tissue/organ transplantation, autoimmune diseases and some malignant disorders. Cells infected by microbiological pathogens may release sMICA, whereas less is known whether and to what extent serum sMICA levels may change in infectious diseases.MethodsThe present study determined serum sMICA levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in a southern China population, including patients (n = 1041) suffering from several types of malignant and infectious diseases and healthy controls (n = 141).ResultsRelative to controls, serum sMICA elevation was significant in patients of hepatic cancer, and was approaching statistical significance in patients with lung, gastric and nasopharyngeal cancers. sMICA elevation was also associated with some bacterial (Enterobacteriaceae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, non-fermenting Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive cocci), viral (hepatitis B and C) and the Microspironema pallidum infections.ConclusionSerum sMICA levels may be informative for the diagnosis of some malignant and infectious diseases. The results also indicate that microbiological infections should be considered as a potential confounding clinical condition causing serum sMICA elevation while using this test to evaluate the status of other disorders, such as cancers, host-graft response and autoimmune diseases.
Highlights
Elevation of soluble major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A products in serum has been linked to tissue/organ transplantation, autoimmune diseases and some malignant disorders
Serum sMICA and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses in the present study suggest a trend of elevation of the protein in liver, lung and laryngeal carcinomas in Chinese population, with the laboratory test being of significant value in the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatic cancer
The present study provides evidence that serum sMICA levels are elevated in various infectious diseases by microbiological pathogens
Summary
Elevation of soluble major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A (sMICA) products in serum has been linked to tissue/organ transplantation, autoimmune diseases and some malignant disorders. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) or human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes located in chromosome 6 encode the classical class I gene products that are involved in such immune responses. The human major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related genes (MIC) are lately discovered genes located on chromosome 6 in the region encoding the classic MHC products, This set of genes encodes protein products performing distinct immune functions than antigen presentation. The MIC region consists of 7 loci encoding two functional genes, namely the human major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene A (MICA) and B (MICB), with the remainder (MICC-MICG) being pseudogenes [5,6]. MICA and MICB, including their polymorphism conditions, may relate to the susceptibility to cancer and infectious diseases among individuals, the underlying mechanisms remain less clear at the present [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]
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