Evaluation of multiple autoantibodies to tumor-associated antigens as potential diagnostic markers for pancreatic cancer

The aim of the study is to evaluate the clinical significance of autoantibodies to GNA11, MSLN, GNAS, CEBPA, MDM2, p16, Sui1, Calnuc, PTEN in Pancreatic Cancer (PC). A total of 33 sera from PC patients and 45 sera from Normal Controls (NC) were enrolled to measure nine autoantibodies by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Multiple parameters in individual or combination forms were applied for evaluation. The level of all autoantibodies except anti-GNAS and anti-Calnuc was significantly higher in PC patients than that in normal controls. Significantly increased frequencies were found for four autoantibodies to MSLN, p16, PTEN and Sui1 at 75.8%, 66.7%, 30.3% and 27.3% compared to normal controls (4.9%). The ability of these autoantibodies to distinguish PC patients from normal controls reflected by the area under ROC curve (AUC) ranged from 0.666 to 0.884, with anti-p16 (0.884 of AUC) and anti-MSLN (0.857 of AUC) showing the strongest diagnostic performance. The combination of anti-MSLN and anti-p16 could improve the diagnostic sensitivity. In addition, two autoantibodies to MSLN and Sui1 in PC patients decreased after chemotherapy. Four autoantibodies to MSLN, p16, Sui1, PTEN showed potential diagnostic markers for pancreatic cancer, with anti-MSLN and anti-p16 in best performance. The combination of these two autoantibodies showed the most economical and practical potential. The significance of the reduction of autoantibodies to MSLN and Sui1 in PC patients who were subjected to chemotherapy needs to be further explored.