Mm. Konstandoulakis et al., Autoantibodies in the serum of patients with gastric cancer: Their prognostic importance, HYBRIDOMA, 17(5), 1998, pp. 431-435
To evaluate the presence in serum and the clinical relevance of several ant
inuclear autoantibodies, we investigated 31 patients with initially diagnos
ed gastric cancer and 40 age-matched healthy controls. Autoantibodies again
st ssDNA, dsDNA, cardiolipin, actin, myosin, tropomyosin, GM(1), GD(1b) and
GT(3) gangliosides, were detected with an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA
). Anti-ssDNA, anti-actin, anti-GM(1) and anti-GD(1b) antibodies were detec
ted in the serum of 11 (p = 0.001), 8 (p = 0.02), 11 (p = 0.001), and 9 (p
= 0.008) patients with gastric cancer, respectively. There was no significa
nt difference between patients with cancer and the control group, as far as
the other autoantibodies were concerned. Most of the patients (90%) had au
toantibodies against at least one of the antigens examined. Patients with a
nti-ssDNA, anti-actin, anti-GM(1) and anti-GD(1b) antibodies were less like
ly to survive than the patients being negative to the above autoantibodies:
the figures are 1 of 11 (9%) compared with 4 of 20 (20%); 1 of 8 (13%) com
pared with 5 of 23 (22%); 1 of 11 (9%) compared with 4 of 20 (20%); and 1 o
f 9 (11%) compared with 4 of 22 (18%), respectively. Our findings suggest t
hat 4 of the 9 autoantibodies that we assayed are significantly more likely
to be found in serum of patients with gastric cancer, indicating that the
immune system has a role in the process of the malignant disease. If our re
sults are confirmed by forthcoming studies, some of the immunological varia
bles that we examined could be used as markers of prognostic value in patie
nts with gastric cancer.