Identification of host-immune response protein candidates in the sera of human oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

• Published in: PloS one 2014-10, Vol.9 (10), p.e109012-e109012
• Main Authors: Chen, Yeng, Azman, Siti Nuraishah, Kerishnan, Jesinda P, Zain, Rosnah Binti, Chen, Yu Nieng, Wong, Yin-Ling, Gopinath, Subash C B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antigens; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Biomarkers, Tumor - blood; Biopsy; Burkholderia; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - blood; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - immunology; Cell cycle; Clusterin; Complement component C3; Complement component C3c; Dentistry; Diagnostic software; Diagnostic systems; Diagnostic tests; Gel electrophoresis; Glycoproteins; Haptoglobin; Health risk assessment; Helicobacter pylori; Humans; Identification; Immune response; Immune system; Immunogenicity; Immunoglobulins; Infections; Leucine; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Medical diagnosis; Medical research; Mortality; Mouth Neoplasms - blood; Mouth Neoplasms - immunology; Myxococcus xanthus; Neoplasms; Oral cancer; Oral squamous cell carcinoma; Patients; Proteins; Quality of life; Research and Analysis Methods; Retinol-binding protein; Risk analysis; Risk factors; Squamous cell carcinoma; Vitamin A
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109012

One of the most common cancers worldwide is oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), which is associated with a significant death rate and has been linked to several risk factors. Notably, failure to detect these neoplasms at an early stage represents a fundamental barrier to improving the survival and quality of life of OSCC patients. In the present study, serum samples from OSCC patients (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 25) were subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and silver staining in order to identify biomarkers that might allow early diagnosis. In this regard, 2-DE spots corresponding to various up- and down-regulated proteins were sequenced via high-resolution MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and analyzed using the MASCOT database. We identified the following differentially expressed host-specific proteins within sera from OSCC patients: leucine-rich α2-glycoprotein (LRG), alpha-1-B-glycoprotein (ABG), clusterin (CLU), PRO2044, haptoglobin (HAP), complement C3c (C3), proapolipoprotein A1 (proapo-A1), and retinol-binding protein 4 precursor (RBP4). Moreover, five non-host factors were detected, including bacterial antigens from Acinetobacter lwoffii, Burkholderia multivorans, Myxococcus xanthus, Laribacter hongkongensis, and Streptococcus salivarius. Subsequently, we analyzed the immunogenicity of these proteins using pooled sera from OSCC patients. In this regard, five of these candidate biomarkers were found to be immunoreactive: CLU, HAP, C3, proapo-A1 and RBP4. Taken together, our immunoproteomics approach has identified various serum biomarkers that could facilitate the development of early diagnostic tools for OSCC.