Recent progress in van der Waals heterojunctions

Following the development of many novel two-dimensional (2D) materials, investigations of van der Waals heterojunctions (vdWHs) have attracted significant attention due to their excellent properties such as smooth heterointerface, highly gate-tunable bandgap, and ultrafast carrier transport. Benefits from the atom-scale thickness, physical and chemical properties and ease of manipulation of the heterojunctions formulated by weak vdW forces were demonstrated to indicate their outstanding potential in electronic and optoelectronic applications, including photodetection and energy harvesting, and the possibility of integrating them with the existing semiconductor technology for the next-generation electronic and sensing devices. In this review, we summarized the recent developments of vdWHs and emphasized their applications. Basically, we introduced the physical properties and some newly discovered phenomena in vdWHs. Then, we emphatically presented four classical vdWHs and some novel heterostructures formed by vdW forces. Based on their unique physical properties and structures, we highlighted the applications of vdWHs including in photodiodes, phototransistors, tunneling devices, and memory devices. Finally, we provided a conclusion on the recent advances in vdWHs and outlined our perspectives. We aim for this review to serve as a solid foundation in this field and to pave the way for future research on vdW-based materials and their heterostructures.

[Andersson lesion in ankylosing spondylitis: a clinical study of 14 cases]

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) combined Andersson lesion (AL). Methods: The clinical data of patients who were diagnosed as AS combined AL at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital between January 2012 and December 2015 were reviewed retrospectively.SPSS 20.0 software was used for statistical analysis.Data of normal distribution was expressed by x±s (standard deviation) and that of abnormal distribution by median and range. Results: Fourteen patients were enrolled. Ten were male, median age (IQR, similarly hereinafter) was 46 (29-53) years, disease duration was 120 (54-150) months, 7 has symptom increased in the beginning, 6 has nerve compression symptom, 7 has kyphosis, and 4 has spinous tenderness or percussion pain in physical examination.Eleven of AL occurred in the thoracolumbar junction.Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 24 (15-44) mm/1 h, C-reactive protein was 10 (5-18) mg/L, and Serum amyloid A was 19 (5-31) mg/L.All the 14 patients were divided into 2 groups, aggravated group (n=7) and none aggravated group (n=7) according to the symptom.It was no statistic difference between them about all the above indicators. Conclusion: Imageological diagnosis should be performed to identify Andersson lesion, while ankylosing spondylitis patients combined mechanical pain based on inflammatory back pain, or mainly with nerve compression symptom, tenderness or percussion pain, or spinous, even when inflammatory markers were normal.

Abstract B05: Differential autoimmune response to glycolysis and plasminogen antigens from aggressive prostate cancer cells in African American and European American men with prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related male deaths in the U.S. This cancer is more aggressive in African American (AA) men, who are twice as likely to die from the disease compared to other racial groups. Despite racial disparities in PCa mortality, immunoproteomic studies profiling sera from thousands of men for the presence of autoantibodies to tumor-associated antigens (TAA) have mostly used sera from European or Asian ancestry. These autoantibodies can serve as both cancer biomarkers and potential tools in anti-tumor immunotherapy. In this study we profiled sera of AA and European American (EA) men with (N=157) and without (N=183) PCa against protein lysates from aggressive PCa cell lines using one and two-dimensional Western blotting. Sera from AA-PCa patients showed stronger immunoreactivity to proteins in PC3 cell lysates compared to EA-PCa sera. Common bands of immunoreactivity were observed around 37, 40, 50, 55, 60, and 70 kD from the sera of multiple patients. Several AA-PCa sera showed common immunoreactivity against a 50 kD protein band (16 out of 24, 67%) which was identified by serological proteomic analysis (SERPA) as alpha-enolase (ENO1), an enzyme that participates in both the glycolysis and plasminogen pathways. ELISA using purified ENO1 was conducted on 360 sera and showed significantly elevated frequency in men with PCa compared to non-PCa controls. Interestingly, SERPA analysis of other strongly immunoreactive spots outside the 50 kD region recognized of the other highly reactive PCa sera revealed additional candidate TAAs involved in the glycolysis and plasminogen pathways. These included key glycolytic enzymes GAPDH, fructose bisphosphate aldolase, phosphoglycerate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase, and other members of the plasminogen system such as GRP78 and annexin A2. Autoantibodies to stress survival proteins HSP60 and STIP1 were also identified in multiple PCa sera. We then probed by immunoblotting representative sera recognizing some of these candidate TAAs against a panel of 12 PCa and non-PCa cell lines. Anti-STIP1 sera showed elevated immunoreactivity predominantly in docetaxel-resistant cell lines. In the anti-ENO1 positive sera, we observed a race-related differential immune response, with anti-ENO1 sera from AA-PCa men showing elevated immunoreactivity mostly in metastatic cell lines, and anti-ENO1 sera from EA-PCa men showing uniform immunoreactivity across the entire panel of prostate cell lines. Interestingly, while several anti-ENO1 positive sera from AA-PCa men had increased immunoreactivity to this protein in the metastatic PCa cell lines LNCaP, MDA-PC2b, PC3 and DU145, they lacked reactivity against ENO1 in the docetaxel-resistant PC3-DR and DU145-DR cells, or purified ENO1 used in the ELISA. Anti-ENO1 EA-PCa sera did not display this differential pattern of immunoreactivity. To better understand these differences in anti-ENO1 reactivity, we interrogated the pattern of ENO1 post-translational modifications (PTMs) from PC3, PC3-DR and purified ENO1. Several different acetylated, methylated, phosphorylated, citrullinated, and glycosylated ENO1 PTMs were identified in the PC3 cells that were not present in the PC3-DR cells nor purified ENO1 which might explain the differential reactivity of AA-PCa sera against these three sources of ENO1. Taken together, these data suggest the anti-ENO1 autoantibodies from AA-PCa men may target a modified form of ENO1 that is different from that recognized by EA-PCa men. These discrepancies point to racial differences in immune response to TAAs in prostate tumors, and may have implications for identifying immunobiological factors contributing to PCa health disparities.

Citation Format: Tino W. Sanchez, Guangyu Zhang, Jitian Li, Liping Dai, Rowaid Kellow, Saied Mirshahidi, Nathan R. Wall, Clayton Yates, Colwick Wilson, Susanne Montgomery, Jian-Ying Zhang, Carlos Casiano. Differential autoimmune response to glycolysis and plasminogen antigens from aggressive prostate cancer cells in African American and European American men with prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Ninth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2016 Sep 25-28; Fort Lauderdale, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(2 Suppl):Abstract nr B05.

Two novel polymorphisms in PLCE1 are associated with the susceptibility to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Chinese population

Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. Phospholipase C epsilon 1 (PLCE1) gene was found to be associated with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by three large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Chinese populations. To evaluate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PLCE1 gene and ESCC risk, a case-control study including 550 patients with ESCC and 550 age, gender-matched controls was carried out to investigate the genetic susceptibility of three SNPs (rs3765524 C/T and two unreported potentially functional SNPs rs10882379 G/A and rs829232 G/A) as well as the interactions of gene-gene and gene-environment in the development of ESCC. And the results showed that GA genotype of rs10882379 was significantly associated with reduced ESCC risk compared with GG genotype (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 0.66 [0.51, 0.86]), while AA genotype of rs829232 was significantly associated with increased ESCC risk compared with GG genotype (adjusted OR [95% CI]: 1.37 [1.12, 1.67]). The haplotype analysis showed increased ESCC risk in Grs10882379Crs3765524Ars829232 and Grs10882379Trs3765524Ars829232 haplotypes with OR (95% CI) of 1.40 (1.13, 1.73) and 1.66 (1.18, 2.34), respectively and inversely reduced ESCC risk in Ars10882379Crs3765524Grs829232 haplotype with OR (95% CI) of 0.74 (0.61, 0.91). The gene-environment interaction analysis emerged a best model consisted of four factors (rs10882379, rs3765524, rs829232 and family history of ESCC) that could increase the ESCC risk in the 'high risk group' with 4.45-fold (OR [95% CI]: 5.45 [4.13, 7.19]), compared to the 'low risk group.' Our results further validate that the SNPs in PLCE1 gene may contribute to the ESCC susceptibility in Chinese Han population. Also the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions play a certain crucial role in the ESCC progression.

[The alterations and clinical significance of serum thyroid hormone levels in patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]

Objective: To observe the alterations of serum thyroid hormone levels in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) patients without thyroid disease and therefore to investigate the association between serum thyroid hormone levels and the severity and prognosis of AECOPD. Methods: Serum thyroid hormone levels including TT4, TT3, TSH, FT4 and FT3 were measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay in 84 hospitalized patients with AECOPD [male 52, female 32, aged 50-93 years, average (78±10) years] and in 35 healthy subjects [male 20, female 15, aged 51-87 years, average (73±11) years] from 2013 to 2014. Results: The serum TT4, TT3 and FT3 levels in AECOPD patients before therapy were significantly lower than those after therapy(P<0.05). The serum TT4, TT3 and FT3 levels in AECOPD post-therapy were significantly lower than those in the healthy control group(TT4: 80±18, 89±18, 113±21; TT3: 0.84±0.25, 1.37±0.31, 1.60±0.35; FT3: 2.57±0.73, 3.49±0.64, 4.21±0.75, P<0.05). The serum FT4 level in AECOPD pre-therapy was significantly lower than that in AECOPD post-therapy and the control group(15.0±2.8, 16.3±2.5, 16.7±2.4, P<0.05). The difference of serum FT4 level between AECOPD post-therapy group and the control group was not statistically significant(P>0.05). The Serum TT4, TT3, FT4 and FT3 levels in type Ⅰ respiratory failure subgroup and type Ⅱ respiratory failure subgroup were both significantly lower than those in the non-respiratory failure subgroup(TT4: 78±14, 70±16, 92±17; TT3: 0.73±0.16, 0.73±0.23, 1.04±0.21; FT4: 14.4±2.4, 14.1±2.4, 16.3±2.9; FT3: 2.27±0.65, 2.32±0.66, 3.05±0.62, P<0.05). The differences of serum TT4, TT3, FT4 and FT3 levels between type Ⅰ respiratory failure subgroup and type Ⅱ respiratory failure subgroup were not statistically significant(P>0.05). The serum TT3 and FT3 levels in the survival subgroup were significantly higher than those in the fatal subgroup(TT3: 0.90±0.25, 0.68±0.18; FT3: 2.76±0.67, 2.07±0.68, P<0.05). The differences of serum TT4(82±18, 75±17), FT4(15.2±2.8, 14.2±2.7) and TSH(1.1±1.1, 1.5±1.5) levels between the 2 subgroups were not statistically significant(P>0.05). Conclusion: Serum thyroid hormone levels are related to the condition of AECOPD. They are reduced in patients with AECOPD and can recover to different degrees as the primary disease improves. Hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention can result in decreased levels of serum thyroid hormones. Serum thyroid hormone levels are significantly associated with the severity and prognosis of patients with AECOPD.

Using Serological Proteome Analysis to Identify Serum Anti-Nucleophosmin 1 Autoantibody as a Potential Biomarker in European-American and African-American Patients With Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND

The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has been widely implemented for the early detection and management of prostate cancer (PCa). However, the lack of specificity has led to overdiagnosis, resulting in many possibly unnecessary biopsies and overtreatment. Therefore, novel serological biomarkers with high sensitivity and specificity are of vital importance needed to complement PSA testing in the early diagnosis and effective management of PCa. This is particularly critical in the context of PCa health disparities, where early detection and management could help reduce the disproportionately high PCa mortality observed in African-American men. Previous studies have demonstrated that sera from patients with PCa contain autoantibodies that react with tumor-associated antigens (TAAs).

METHODS

The serological proteome analysis (SERPA) approach was used to identify tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) of PCa. In evaluation study, the level of anti-NPM1 antibody was examined in sera from test cohort, validation cohort, as well as European-American (EA) and African-American (AA) men with PCa by using immunoassay.

RESULTS

Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) as a 33 kDa TAA in PCa was identified and characterized by SERPA approach. Anti-NPM1 antibody level in PCa was higher than in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients and healthy individuals. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed similar high diagnostic value for PCa in the test cohort (area under the curve (AUC):0.860) and validation cohort (AUC: 0.822) to differentiate from normal individuals and BPH. Interestingly, AUC values were significantly higher for AA PCa patients. When considering concurrent serum measurements of anti-NPM1 antibody and PSA, 97.1% PCa patients at early stage were identified correctly, while 69.2% BPH patients who had elevated PSA levels were found to be anti-NPM1 negative. Additionally, anti-NPM1 antibody levels in PCa patients at early stage significantly increased after surgery treatment.

CONCLUSION

This intriguing data suggested that NPM1 can elicit autoantibody response in PCa and might be a potential biomarker for the immunodiagnosis and prognosis of PCa, and for supplementing PSA testing in distinguishing PCa from BPH. Prostate 76:1375-1386, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Immunoseroproteomic Profiling in African American Men with Prostate Cancer: Evidence for an Autoantibody Response to Glycolysis and Plasminogen-Associated Proteins

African American (AA) men suffer from a disproportionately high incidence and mortality of prostate cancer (PCa) compared with other racial/ethnic groups. Despite these disparities, African American men are underrepresented in clinical trials and in studies on PCa biology and biomarker discovery. We used immunoseroproteomics to profile antitumor autoantibody responses in AA and European American (EA) men with PCa, and explored differences in these responses. This minimally invasive approach detects autoantibodies to tumor-associated antigens that could serve as clinical biomarkers and immunotherapeutic agents. Sera from AA and EA men with PCa were probed by immunoblotting against PC3 cell proteins, with AA sera showing stronger immunoreactivity. Mass spectrometry analysis of immunoreactive protein spots revealed that several AA sera contained autoantibodies to a number of proteins associated with both the glycolysis and plasminogen pathways, particularly to alpha-enolase (ENO1). The proteomic data is deposited in ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD003968. Analysis of sera from 340 racially diverse men by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) showed higher frequency of anti-ENO1 autoantibodies in PCa sera compared with control sera. We observed differences between AA-PCa and EA-PCa patients in their immunoreactivity against ENO1. Although EA-PCa sera reacted with higher frequency against purified ENO1 in ELISA and recognized by immunoblotting the endogenous cellular ENO1 across a panel of prostate cell lines, AA-PCa sera reacted weakly against this protein by ELISA but recognized it by immunoblotting preferentially in metastatic cell lines. These race-related differences in immunoreactivity to ENO1 could not be accounted by differential autoantibody recognition of phosphoepitopes within this antigen. Proteomic analysis revealed differences in the posttranslational modification profiles of ENO1 variants differentially recognized by AA-PCa and EA-PCa sera. These intriguing results suggest the possibility of race-related differences in the antitumor autoantibody response in PCa, and have implications for defining novel biological determinants of PCa health disparities.

Prognostic significance of low microRNA-218 expression in patients with different types of cancer: Evidence from published studies

BACKGROUND

Mounting evidence showed that microRNAs may be useful as prognostic biomarkers of cancer. Therefore, we summarize the predictive role of microRNA-218 (miR-218) for survival in patients with various cancers.

METHODS

We performed a systematic literature review and assessed the quality of included studies based on Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology group (MOOSE). Hazard ratios (HRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the correlation between miR-218 expression and prognosis of different cancers.

RESULTS

We identified 10 studies for pooled analyses. For overall survival, a lower expression levels of miR-218 significantly predicted poorer survival, with the pooled HR of 2.61 (95% CI: 2.11-3.22, P < 0.001). For disease-free survival/progressive-free survival/recurrence-free survival (DFS/PFS/RFS), a lower expression level of miR-218 significantly predicted worse DFS/PFS/RFS in various carcinomas, with the pooled HR of 2.73 (95% CI: 2.08-3.58, P < 0.001). Similarly, subgroup analysis by detection method, ethnicity and cancer subtype analysis suggested that lower expression of miR-218 correlated with.

CONCLUSION

Our data demonstrated that lower miR-218 expression is significantly associated with poorer overall survival (OS) and DFS/PFS/RFS and may be a novel prognostic biomarker in some cancer types.

Laparoscopic versus open appendectomy in adults and children: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences of laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) versus open appendectomy (OA) in adults and children.

METHODS

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing LA and OA in adults and children between January 1992-March 2016 were included in this study. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate wound infection, intra-abdominal abscess, postoperative complications, reoperation rate, operation time, postoperative stay, and return to normal activity.

RESULT

Thirty-three studies including 3642 patients (1810 LA, 1832 OA) were included. Compared with OA, LA in adults was associated with lower incidence of wound infection, fewer postoperative complications, shorter postoperative stay, and earlier return to normal activity, but a longer operation time. There was no difference in levels of intra-abdominal abscess and reoperation between the groups. Subgroup analysis in children did not reveal significant differences between the two techniques in wound infection, postoperative complications, postoperative stay, and return to normal activity.

CONCLUSION

LA in adults is worth recommending as an effective and safe procedure for acute appendicitis, and further high-quality randomized trials comparing the two techniques in children are needed.

Autoantibodies against tumor-associated antigens in the early detection of lung cancer

OBJECTIVES

Autoantibodies against tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) identified in patients with advanced lung cancer may be detected in subjects with early lung cancer or even predate the diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to address the temporal relationship between lung cancer development and serum autoantibody response.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two cohorts of patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer were included. The first cohort included 90 sera from patients with lung cancer (Stages I-III) and 89 normal control sera. In the second cohort, 93 serial serum samples from 25 patients with CT-scan screen-detected stage I lung cancer were collected before the diagnosis of lung cancer (average 32 months) and 56 controls were matched on age, gender, and smoking. Autoantibody levels were measured by immunoassay.

RESULTS

Measurement of autoantibodies against seven TAAs (14-3-3ζ, c-Myc, MDM2, NPM1, p16, p53 and cyclin B1) individually could discriminate lung cancer patients from normal individuals in the first cohort and the area under curve (AUC) was 0.863 based on a panel of seven autoantibodies, with sensitivity of 68.9% and specificity of 79.5%. Autoantibodies in serial pre-diagnostic serum samples against the same panel of seven TAAs were detected prior to lung cancer diagnosis with sensitivity of 76.0% and specificity of 73.2% (AUC) (95%CI): 0.885 (0.797-0.973)). Elevated autoantibody levels could be detected greater than four years prior to lung cancer diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

A panel of seven TAAs may enhance the early detection of lung cancer, consistent with a humoral immune response to TAAs that can be detected months to years prior to the diagnosis.

Abstract 3895: Immunoproteomic profiling in African American men with prostate cancer: Evidence for an autoimmune response to glycolytic enzymes

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related male deaths in the U.S. This cancer is more aggressive in African American (AA) men, who are twice as likely to die from the disease when compared to other racial groups. Despite these racial disparities in PCa mortality, studies on PCa biology and biomarker discovery include mostly patients from European American (EA) backgrounds. There is a critical need to find minimally invasive PCa biomarkers that could aid in diagnosis and prognosis, especially in high risk populations like AA men. Immunoproteomics offers a minimally invasive approach to detect early malignant processes that trigger production of autoantibodies to tumor-associated antigens (TAA). We used serum samples from AA (n = 59) and EA (n = 50) men with PCa to probe one- and two-dimensional Western blots of protein lysates from aggressive PCa cell lines. AA PCa patient sera showed stronger immunoreactivity to proteins in PC3 cell lysates compared to the EA sera, with a 50 kD protein band frequently targeted by autoantibodies in several AA PCa sera. Serological proteomic analysis with mass spectrometry showed that these AA PCa autoantibodies recognized alpha-enolase (ENO1), a protein important in tumor formation, expansion, and glucose metabolism. In addition, several other glycolytic enzymes important for tumor proliferation were also identified as candidate prostate TAA, including GAPDH, bisphosphate aldolase, phosphoglycerate kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase. The ENO1 autoantibody frequency, measured by ELISA in sera from 400 racially diverse men with and without PCa, was four-fold higher in PCa compared to non-PCa patients. Interestingly, although sera from AA men with PCa had stronger WB reactivity to ENO1 present in PC3 lysates compared to EA men, and the ENO1 autoantibodies were initially discovered in eight AA PCa sera but only in two EA sera, the anti-ENO1 autoantibody frequency measured by ELISA, which used yeast-purified recombinant human ENO1 as a substrate, was higher in the EA PCa cohort. In addition, several anti-ENO1 positive sera from AA men with PCa showed increased immunoreactivity to this protein in the PCa cell lines LNCaP, MDA-PC2b, PC3, and DU145, but not against the purified ENO1 used in ELISA. The opposite was true in the EA PCa cohort, where strong reactivity against the purified ENO1 did not correlate with an equally strong immunoreactivity against the cellular ENO1. The EA PCa sera did not recognize the pattern of ENO1 expression observed with the AA sera in the same panel of prostate cell lines. These differences of immunoreactivity between AA and EA sera against PC3-ENO1 vs recombinant human ENO1 suggest that select AA sera may predominantly recognize ENO1 epitopes not displayed in the purified protein. These discrepancies point to racial differences in the immune response to prostate tumors.

Citation Format: Tino Wilson Sanchez, Jian-Ying Zhang, Liping Dai, Susanne Montgomery, Colwick Wilson, Guangyu Zhang, Saied Mirshahidi, Nathan Wall, Carlos A. Casiano. Immunoproteomic profiling in African American men with prostate cancer: Evidence for an autoimmune response to glycolytic enzymes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 3895.

Abstract 446: Systematic discovery of biomarkers for ovarian cancer by using the Human Protein Atlas database

Purpose: The extensive accumulation of human protein expression datasets in normal and cancer tissues provides unique opportunities to perform systematic selection of tumor biomarkers. This study aims to discover biomarkers for ovarian cancer (OC) by data mining the Human Protein Atlas databases in a systematic manner.

Design methods: The Human Protein Atlas website (HPA, www.proteinatlas.org) is a publicly available database with spatial distribution of 20,356 proteins in 44 different normal human tissues and 20 different types of cancers. It is ideal for biomarker discovery. SAS software version 9.4 was used to data mine HPA database. All the potential biomarkers should meet the following criteria: the protein have ≥ 75% high or medium expression in OC but have low or no expression in other types of cancers, and the protein have low or no expression in at least one type of tissues of ovary included in the HPA database, the overall expression in normal tissues is ≤ 40%. Then ELISA was used to test the diagnostic performance of some of the selected biomarkers.

Results: Nineteen out of twenty different types of cancers included in the HPA database were studied in our study, carcinoid was excluded in the selection process due to the lack of proper normal control tissues. In general, PLAT might be a universal biomarker for 19 cancers. In total, 2,593 potential biomarkers for OC were selected. Ninety seven proteins out of 2,593 proteins might be OC-specific according to the available data. After an intensive manual search from the website, twelve proteins (STC1, MSLN, LSM3, WFDC2/HE4, ZNF2, CRIP3, XAF1, SLC35E2B, IFT88, ATP13A3, ZNF787 and TROAP) were selected for further research. Among them, WFDC2/HE4, MSLN have already been reported to have good diagnostic performance in OC by other researchers. ELISA was further used to test whether serum autoantibodies against PLAT or MSLN can distinguish 44 OC patients from 48 normal controls. The AUC of anti-PLAT and anti-MSLN were 0.783 (P &lt; 0.001) and 0.666 (P = 0.006), respectively.

Conclusions: HPA database have made systematic discovery of cancer biomarkers possible. PLAT and MSLN can distinguish OC from normal controls. Another 11 proteins have great potential to serve as OC biomarkers and further validation studies are warranted to test their diagnostic performance and whether these biomarkers are OC specific.

Keywords: ovarian cancer, tumor associated antigen, big data, data mining, systematic discovery

This study was supported by grants from the General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81172086 and No.81372371). We would also like to acknowledge the Border Biomedical Research Center (BBRC) Core facilities at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for their help, which were funded by NIH Grant (5G12MD007592).

Citation Format: Jianxiang Shi, Hao Sun, Hongfei Zhang, Mengtao Xing, Jitian Li, Pei Li, Liping Dai, Chenglin Luo, Jian-Ying Zhang. Systematic discovery of biomarkers for ovarian cancer by using the Human Protein Atlas database. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 446.

Abstract 4974: Using serological proteomics analysis to identify anti-nucleophosmin 1 autoantibody in sera from prostate cancer patients as potential diagnositic and prognostic biomarker

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) level test in blood has been widely implemented for the early detection and prediction of prostate cancer (PCa). However, lack of specificity led to overdiagnosis, following by unnecessary biopsies and overtreatment. Therefore, novel serological biomarkers are urgently needed to complement PSA by enhancing its sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of PCa. Autoantibodies against intracellular tumor associated antigens (TAAs) are commonly found in various types of human cancers. Their utility in providing insights into tumor biology and as potential cancer biomarkers is well documented. Previous studies have demonstrated that sera from patients with PCa contain autoantibodies that react with TAAs. In this study, we identified and characterized nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) with 33 kDa molecular weight as an autoantigen by using serological proteomics analysis (SERPA) approach. In the further validation study, it was observed that the level of anti-NPM1 in sera from patients with PCa was significantly higher than that from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and healthy individuals and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed high diagnostic value for PCa (area under the curve (AUC):0.805). Interestingly, when considering anti-NPM1 combined with PSA level in sera from PCa patients at the early stage as well as BPH, 100% PCa patients could be identified correctly, while 69.2% patients with BPH who has elevated PSA level were found anti-NPM1 negative. The data suggested that anti-NPM1 can elicit humoral immune response in PCa and might be a potential biomarker for the immunodiagnosis of PCa, and it would be a supplementary of PSA examination to distinguish PCa from BPH.

Key words: prostate cancer; nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1); tumor-associated antigens (TAAs); autoantibodies; serological proteomics analysis (SERPA)

Citation Format: jitian li, Liping Dai, Ningjing Lei, Mengtao Xing, Carlos A. Casiano, Jianying Zhang. Using serological proteomics analysis to identify anti-nucleophosmin 1 autoantibody in sera from prostate cancer patients as potential diagnositic and prognostic biomarker. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4974.

Abstract 2255: Evaluation of the diagnostic value of serum anti-cyclin B1 autoantibody as a biomarker in lung cancer

To detect the diagnostic value of cancer-associated autoantibodies in lung cancer, a panel of 9 tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) were used in this study. The TAAs were composed of p62, p16, Koc, p53, Cyclin B1, Cyclin E, Survivin, HCC1, and Rol-A full-length recombinant proteins. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblotting were used to detect antibodies in 50 lung cancer sera with clinicopathological characteristics and 42 sera from normal individuals. Following, antibodies to Cyclin B1, survivin, p53 and HCC1 were selected and confirmed in another 62 sera from patients with lung cancer but without clinical date and evaluate the diagnostic value of these TAAs. The results showed that the positive rate of autoantibodies against nine selected TAAs (cyclin B1, survivin, HCC1,p53, KOC,p16,p62, RalA and cyclin E) reached 36%, 36%, 26%, 12%, 8%, 6%, 6%, 2%, 0% in 50 lung cancer sera and 4.8%, 2.4%, 0%, 0%, 2.4%, 4.8%, 2.4%, 2.4%, 4.8% in 42 normal sera, respectively. The AUC values for distinguishing lung cancers from normal sera were 0.767, 0.400, 0.567, 0.395, 0.230, 0.517, 0.635, 0.194, 0.411, respectively. These data suggest that cyclin B1, survivin, HCC1 and p53 has higher clinical diagnostic quality and value than other TAAs in lung cancer. In the confirmation group with 62 lung cancer sear, autoantibodies against these four TAAs were also significantly higher in patients with lung cancer (AUC values of 0.764,0.653,0.623 and 0.622, p&lt;0.05). Evaluation of the diagnostic value of these four TAAs in 50 sera from lung cancer patients with clinical characteristics, and results revealed that serum anti-cyclin B1, anti-survivin and anti-p53 autoantibodies significantly increased in patients with stage I but only serum anti-cyclin B1 increased in stage II and III lung cancer (p &lt;0.05, respectively), ROC curve analysis has shown that anti-cyclin B1 and anti-p53 autoantibodies can discriminate stage I lung cancer from normal controls with AUC value of 0.757,0.697, respectively (p&lt;0.01), and anti-survivin and anti-HCC1 autoantibodies failed to discriminate stage I lung cancer from normal controls. Our results suggest that these four TAAs has higher clinical diagnostic quality and value than other TAAs in lung cancer and serum cyclin-B1 may have the potential to serve as novel non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers in patients with lung cancer, especially in early stage lung cancer.

Citation Format: Mengtao Xing, Pei Li, Jianxiang Shi, Liping Dai, Jitian Li, Jianying Zhang. Evaluation of the diagnostic value of serum anti-cyclin B1 autoantibody as a biomarker in lung cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 2255.

Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Risk: A Dose-response Meta-analysis of Observational Studies

The purpose of this study is to clarify and quantify the potential dose-response association between the intake of total red and total processed meat and risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed, EMBASE, and Chinese databases (CNKI and Wanfang). The summary relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (95%CI) was calculated. A total of 15 independent studies with 12,735 subjects were identified. Compared with the low-rank intake, the summary RR of NPC was 1.35 (95%CI, 1.21-1.51) for total red meat and 1.46 (95%CI, 1.34-1.64) for total processed meat. For the moderate-rank intake, the summary RR of NPC was 1.54 (95%CI, 1.36-1.79) for total red meat and 1.59 (95%CI, 1.3-1.90) for total processed meat. The summary RR for high-rank intake was 1.71 (95%CI, 1.14-2.55) for total red meat and 2.11 (95%CI, 1.31-3.42) for total processed meat. The combined estimates showed obvious evidence of statistically significant association between total red and total processed meat consumption dose and risk of NPC (Ptrend< 0.01). In conclusion, our data suggest that a high intake of total red or total processed meat is associated with a significantly increased risk of NPC.