Seven tumor-associated autoantibodies as a serum biomarker for primary screening of early-stage non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze the levels of tumor-associated autoantibodies (TAAbs) in lung diseases and determine their diagnostic efficiency in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the levels of 7-TAAbs in 177 newly diagnosed early-stage NSCLC patients, 202 patients with lung benign diseases and 137 healthy cases. The levels of a panel of 7-TAAbs, including p53, GAGE7, PGP9.5, CAGE, MAGE A1, SOX2, GBU4-5, were measured by ELISA. Results: The serum levels of p53, GAGE7, PGP9.5, CAGE, MAGE A1, SOX2, and GBU4-5 were not statistically different among NSCLC, benign and healthy groups (p > 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of 7-TAAbs was all lower than 0.70. The sensitivity of combined detection was the highest (23.73%), while the specificity was the lowest (88.79%). The positive rates of PGP9.5, SOX2, and combined detection were significantly different among the three groups (p < 0.05). Among them, PGP9.5 and combined detection were significantly different between the NSCLC and benign groups (p < 0.05), PGP9.5, SOX2 and combined detection were significantly different between the NSCLC and healthy groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The diagnostic efficiency of 7-TAAbs in early-stage NSCLC was not high, so it cannot be used alone as a screening method for NSCLC.