Investigation of circulating natural autoantibodies against ANXA1 and MYC as potential biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Purpose: In this study, we examined novel autoantibodies targeting tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) as biomarkers for clinical assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a Chinese population.

Methods and methods: A total of 119 patients with HCC and 130 healthy control (HC) volunteers who were age and gender matched were enrolled. The levels of circulating IgG antibodies were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent test (ELISA) developed in-house with linear peptide antigens derived from Annexin A1(ANXA1) and proto-oncogene protein (MYC). The significant level was set at P<0.025 as two tests were performed.

Results: In comparison to the HC group, plasma level of ANXA1 autoantibodies was significantly elevated in HCC patients (t=-3.174, P = 0.002) but the change of plasma MYC autoantibody levels failed to reach the significance level (P>0.025). There was a significant increase in these two plasma IgG autoantibodies in male HCC patients (ANXA1: t=-3.590, P<0.001; MYC: t=-2.706, P=0.007). Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that both anti-ANXA1 and anti-MYC IgG levels had a positive correlation with BCLC staging (both P <0.025) but a negative correlation with plasma albumin (Alb) (both P <0.025). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were 0.613 for anti-ANXA1 IgG assay and 0.567 for anti-MYC IgG assay. The anti-ANAXA1 IgG assay showed a high sensitivity of 31.4% against the specificity of 90.0% for detection of BCLC stages C+D.

Conclusions: Plasma anti-ANXA1 and anti-MYC autoantibodies are likely to serve as a potential biomarker for clinical assessment of HCC prognosis, particularly in male patients.