Plasma autoantibodies against heat shock protein 70, enolase 1 and ribonuclease/angiogenin inhibitor 1 as potential biomarkers for cholangiocarcinoma

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 24;9(7):e103259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103259. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is often challenging, leading to poor prognosis. CCA arises via chronic inflammation which may be associated with autoantibodies production. This study aims to identify IgG antibodies directed at self-proteins and tumor-associated antigens. Proteins derived from immortalized cholangiocyte cell line (MMNK1) and CCA cell lines (M055, M214 and M139) were separated using 2-dimensional electrophoresis and incubated with pooled plasma of patients with CCA and non-neoplastic controls by immunoblotting. Twenty five immunoreactive spots against all cell lines-derived proteins were observed on stained gels and studied by LC-MS/MS. Among these, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), enolase 1 (ENO1) and ribonuclease/angiogenin inhibitor 1 (RNH1) obtained the highest matching scores and were thus selected for further validation. Western blot revealed immunoreactivity against HSP70 and RNH1 in the majority of CCA cases and weakly in healthy individuals. Further, ELISA showed that plasma HSP70 autoantibody level in CCA was significantly capable to discriminate CCA from healthy individuals with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.9158 (cut-off 0.2630, 93.55% sensitivity and 73.91% specificity). Plasma levels of IgG autoantibodies against HSP70 were correlated with progression from healthy individuals to cholangitis to CCA (r = 0.679, P<0.001). In addition, circulating ENO1 and RNH1 autoantibodies levels were also significantly higher in cholangitis and CCA compared to healthy controls (P<0.05). Moreover, the combinations of HSP70, ENO1 or RNH1 autoantibodies positivity rates improved specificity to over 78%. In conclusion, plasma IgG autoantibodies against HSP70, ENO1 and RNH1 may represent new diagnostic markers for CCA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Autoantibodies / blood*
  • Bile Duct Neoplasms / blood*
  • Bile Duct Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Bile Duct Neoplasms / pathology
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / blood*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / immunology
  • Carrier Proteins / immunology*
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / blood*
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / diagnosis
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / pathology
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / immunology*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Female
  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / immunology*
  • Trematoda / immunology
  • Trematoda / physiology
  • Trematode Infections / blood
  • Trematode Infections / complications
  • Trematode Infections / immunology
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / immunology*

Substances

  • Autoantibodies
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Carrier Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • RNH1 protein, human
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • ENO1 protein, human
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Research Promotion and National Research University Project of Thailand, Office of the Higher Education Commission, through the Health Cluster (SHeP-GMS), The National Research Project of Khon Kaen University, Thailand (PhD54204 and Grant Number1165), and the granted by Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Thailand (Grant Number I56347). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.