Differential serum binding patterns predicting healthy subjects and cancer patients

A viral exposure signature (VES) has been previously described predicting the development of Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in at-risk patients. This has been achieved by a serological profiling of the viral infection history using a synthetic human virome including >100k epitopes (VirScan).

In the present study we applied the same VirScan strategy to identify a differential serum binding pattern (DSBP) for classifying patients of different cancer types from healthy individuals. In particular, the healthy group included both age-matched (ADULTS) as well as elderly (ELDERS) individuals, the latter counting also nonagenarians and centenarians.

The class comparison performed with serological data show DSBPs supporting class predictions, as confirmed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Antibody responses supporting the class predictions are specific to peptides from persistent herpesviruses, acute-infecting viruses and, consistently in all comparisons, human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV). Strikingly, the DSB of the ELDERS vs. CANCER comparison is characterized by higher titers in the healthy subjects; on the contrary, the DSB of the ADULTS vs. CANCER comparison is characterized by lower titers in the healthy subjects.

Overall, the results show a differential serological binding pattern predicting healthy individuals (ADULTS or ELDERS) from patients with different types of cancer. Such results provide the first evidence suggesting a close link between anti-microbial immunity and cancer development. They may be of the highest relevance in terms of predictive, diagnostic and/or prognostic impact in oncology.