Serum autoantibody-based biomarkers for prognosis in early-stage lung cancer patients with surgical resection

Background Lung cancer is the cancer with the highest morbidity and mortality in the world. Autoantibodies have been widely used as biomarkers for detection of lung cancer. With the increasing diagnosis rate of patients with early-stage lung cancer, surgery has become the first-line treatment for more patients. However, there is a lack of effective indicators to assess the risk of recurrence after lung cancer surgery. Methods We collected levels of serum autoantibodies (MAGEA1, GAGE7, GBU4-5, CAGE, SOX2, P53 and PGP9.5) and evaluated their roles as biomarkers especially for postoperative recurrence of lung cancer. In vitro experiments including antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) were performed to explore the functions of serum autoantibodies. Results Our study demonstrated that serum autoantibody-positive patients with early-stage lung cancer had a longer postoperative progression period. The levels of serum autoantibodies in patients with lung cancer were higher than that in patients with benign lung diseases. Additionally, MAGEA1 exhibited higher levels in lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) than that in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) but all the serum autoantibodies had no difference between patients with stage I and II. In addition, the results of in vitro experiments indicated that serum autoantibodies can mediate immune responses and enhance anti-tumor effects. Conclusion This study proposed effective biomarkers for prognosis in lung cancer patients after surgery which is critical to reduce the recurrence. Besides, the anti-tumor effect of serum autoantibodies may provide a new strategy for the treatment of lung cancer.