Squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 and 2 mRNA and a new variant expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma

Epitope-Specific Anti-SerpinB3 Antibodies for SerpinB3 Recognition and Biological Activity Inhibition

SerpinB3 is a serine protease inhibitor that plays a relevant role in disease progression and cancer by increasing fibrosis, cell proliferation, and invasion, besides conferring resistance to apoptosis. The mechanisms underlying these biological activities are not yet fully understood. The aim of this study was to generate antibodies directed against different SerpinB3 epitopes to better investigate their biological role. Five exposed epitopes were identified using the software DNASTAR Lasergene and the corresponding synthetic peptides were used for NZW rabbit immunization. Anti-P#2 and anti-P#4 antibodies were able to recognize both SerpinB3 and SerpinB4 by ELISA. Anti-P#5 antibody, produced against the reactive site loop of SerpinB3, showed the greatest specific reactivity for human SerpinB3. This antibody was able to recognize SerpinB3 at nuclear level, while anti-P#3 antibody recognized SerpinB3 only at cytoplasmic level, both by immunofluorescence and by immunohistochemistry. The biological activity of each antibody preparation was assessed in HepG2 cells overexpressing SerpinB3 and anti-P#5 antibody reduced proliferation by 12% cell and cell invasion by 75%, while trivial results were obtained with the other antibody preparations. These findings indicate that the reactive site loop of SerpinB3 is essential for the invasiveness features induced by this serpin and it could become a novel druggable target.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen: Clinical Application and Research Status

The squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) is a tumor marker that has gained increasing attention for its biological functions and significance in normal physiological and pathological processes. Not only SCCA but also circulating immune complexes of SCCA and immunoglobulin M (IgM) are involved in normal physiological and pathological processes, providing a background for numerous clinical studies aimed at assessing the potential role of SCCA, SCCA–IgM, and SCCA isoform complexes in clinical practice. Previous studies support the clinical value of SCCA as a tumor marker for either diagnosing squamous cancers or monitoring the response to radiotherapy or chemotherapy, tumor relapse, and treatment failure. However, these studies show contrasting results, making the diagnostic or prognostic value of SCCA controversial. To reduce clinical heterogeneity across studies and achieve a more accurate and reliable comparison of results, a standardized detection method, scoring system, and cutoff level need to be established. Moreover, despite the fact that performances of different methods are comparable, the dynamic observation of tumor marker kinetics should be conducted under the same method.

Salivary Scca1, Scca2 and Trop2 in Oral Cancer Patients-A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is frequently diagnosed in the advanced stages. The purpose of this paper is to determine the salivary values of SCCA1, SCCA2 and TROP2 in patients with T1N0M0 OSCC and to compare them with the values obtained from healthy individuals. Unstimulated (UWS) and stimulated (SWS) saliva was sampled from 29 patients with T1N0M0 OSCC and 29 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals. Statistical difference was observed in SCCA1 and SCCA2 levels both in UWS and SWS samples. TROP2 was not measurable in most of the salivary samples. Both SCCA1 and SCCA2 could represent potential biomarkers for the early-stage OSCC. Research on a larger sample and biomarker validation is needed to assess the clinical potential of SCCA1 and SCCA2 in the OSCC early diagnostics.

Squamous cell carcinoma antigen in hepatocellular carcinoma: Ready for the prime time?

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer and the third cause of cancer deaths. The leading predisposing condition is represented by an underlying viral hepatitis, mainly sustained by hepatitis B and C viruses. Since the cumulative risk of developing HCC can be as high as 30-fold in patients with infectious cirrhosis, a timely diagnosis is necessary for establishing an appropriate treatment in these patients. The armamentarium of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with HCC currently entails alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and a limited number of innovative biomarkers, among which squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) and its immune complexes are among the most widely investigated. The clinical data published so far and reviewed in this article seemingly suggest that neither total serum SSCA or its isoform 1 (i.e., SCCA1) may be ready for the prime time for management of patients with HCC. More interesting evidence has emerged from studies investigating the serum values of SCCA-IgM, since the diagnostic performance of this biomarker was found to be frequently superior to that of AFP and, even more importantly, the combination of SCCA-IgM and AFP was characterized by a much better sensitivity than either biomarker alone, with only a modest decrease of specificity. Larger studies are needed before these preliminary findings can be generalized, but the combined use of AFP and SCCA-IgM represents an appealing perspective in diagnosis and prognostication of HCC.

Overexpression of squamous cell carcinoma antigen 1 is associated with the onset and progression of human hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Previous studies indicated Squamous Cell Carcinoma Antigen 1 (SCCA1) may be involved in tumorigenesis and progress of various human malignancies by inhibiting cell apoptosis and promoting cell proliferative activity. The aim of the study was to further investigate SCCA1 expression in different extent of liver diseases and evaluate the clinical significance and prognostic value in HCC.

METHODS

Eighty nine patient-matched tumors and peritumoral surgical specimens and 56 liver biopsies specimens from 23 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 19 with dysplastic nodule (DN), and 14 with HCC were enrolled. An additional four normal liver (NL) samples were used as controls. SCCA1 expression in liver tissue was measured by immunochemistry. Another 28 HCC specimens and paired non-tumor tissues were used for SCCA1 detection by Western blot. The prognostic value of SCCA1 expression in HCC was evaluated by the Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis.

RESULTS

Western blot analysis showed SCCA1 positive rate in HCC was higher than the matched adjacent noncancerous tissues (p <0.001). Immunohistochemistry revealed that SCCA1-positive rate increased gradually from NL, CHB, PNT to DN and HCC (p <0.05). Clinicopathological analysis showed that SCCA1 expression was positively associated with tumor differentiation (p = 0.043) and patients' Child-Pugh score (p = 0.021). The SCCA1-poistive group showed better overall survival than the negative group (p = 0.029). Importantly, SCCA1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival of HCC patients (hazard ratio = 3.757, p <0.001).

CONCLUSION

SCCA1 expression pattern may relate to the progression of chronic liver diseases. Furthermore, our study supports a potential association of negative SCCA1 expression with poor outcome in HCC.