Antibody response to the tumor-associated inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin in cancer patients

Antibody reactivity against survivin, a recently identified tumor-associate d protein, was determined in sera from patients with lung (n = 51) or color ectal cancer (n = 49), The same collection of sera was tested for the prese nce of antibodies against p53, Eleven sera from lung cancer patients and fo ur sera from colorectal cancer patients reacted with purified recombinant s urvivin in an ELISA (21.6% and 8.2%, respectively), whereas four sera from lung cancer patients and nine sera from colorectal cancer patients containe d anti-p53 antibodies (7.8% and 18.4%, respectively). The increase in preva lence when anti-survivin and anti-p53 antibodies were determined in paralle l was statistically significant (29.4% versus 7.8%, P = 0.005 in lung cance r population; 26.6% versus 8.2%, P = 0.015 in colorectal cancer population) . The high prevalence of anti-survivin antibodies makes these antibodies an attractive novel marker for the diagnosis of lung and colorectal cancer, p articularly in patients lacking anti-p53 antibodies.