Abstract
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality around the world. The identification of novel serum biomarkers is required for early detection of ESCC. This study was designed to elucidate whether autoantibodies against STIP1 could be a diagnostic biomarker in ESCC. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was performed to detect serum levels of STIP1 autoantibodies in a training cohort (148 ESCC patients and 111 controls) and a validation cohort (60 ESCC patients and 40 controls). Mann–Whitney's U test showed that ESCC patients in two cohorts have higher levels of autoantibodies against STIP1 when compared to controls (P < 0.001). According to receiver operating characteristic analysis, the sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) of autoantibodies against STIP1 in ESCC were 41.9%, 90.1%, and 0.682 in the training cohort and 40.0%, 92.5%, and 0.710 in the validation cohort, respectively. Moreover, detection of autoantibodies against STIP1 could discriminate early-stage ESCC patients from controls, with sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 35.7%, 90.1%, and 0.684 in the training cohort and 38.5%, 92.5%, and 0.756 in the validation cohort, respectively. Our findings indicated that autoantibodies against STIP1 might be a useful biomarker for early-stage ESCC detection.
Highlights
Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth most prevalent malignant disease and the sixth leading cancer-related deaths around the world [1]
We observed that patients with Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) had a significant increase in level of serum Stress-induced phosphoprotein 1 (STIP1) autoantibody, compared with normal controls (Figure 1, P < 0 0001)
Serum STIP1 autoantibody levels were raised in ESCC patients, compared with controls (Figure 1)
Summary
Esophageal cancer (EC) is the eighth most prevalent malignant disease and the sixth leading cancer-related deaths around the world [1]. In China, 477,900 EC patients were diagnosed and 375,000 patients died in 2015. The number of male patients was as twice as that of female patients [2]. In China, 90% of cases are ESCC, compared to only 26% in the United States [3]. Despite many advances in the treatments of patients with EC, the 5-year survival rate remains poor (e.g., 17.4% in the United States) [4]. The survival rate of EC could reach up to 85% when diagnosed at an early stage but is no more than 10% if diagnosed at an Disease Markers advanced stage [5]. Early diagnosis offers a great opportunity to receive effective therapy and reduce ESCC mortality, and the discovery of noninvasive screening methods is urgently needed
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