| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Priority Reports |
1 The Brady Urological Institute and 2 Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland and 3 Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition and 4 Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Requests for reprints: Robert H. Getzenberg, The Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Marburg 121, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287. Phone: 410-502-3137; Fax: 410-502-9336; E-mail: rgetzen1{at}jhmi.edu.
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
A signature of cancer cells is change in nuclear structure and architecture. Alterations in nuclear matrix proteins have been identified in various cancers, including breast, prostate, bladder, lung, ovarian, and squamous carcinoma of the head and neck (7). We have previously identified colon cancerspecific nuclear matrix proteins that were present in cancer tissue, but not found in normal adjacent tissue nor in the tissue of subjects without colon cancer (8). Antibodies against these proteins have been analyzed along the continuum of normal mucosa, adenomatous polyp, and cancer tissue (9). Using ELISAs for the detection of two colorectal cancerspecific proteins, colon cancerspecific antigen (CCSA)-3 and CCSA-4, expression in the serum of subjects undergoing colonoscopy, in subjects with colorectal cancer, and in control subjects with other cancers and benign diseases was examined.
The main objective of this study is to determine the performance characteristics of the CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 immunoassays. This study examines the performance of both CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 in relevant clinical populations but the sensitivity and specificity values obtained are not necessarily reflective of a screening population.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
1 cm as measured by the pathologist or by the endoscopist when removed in a piecemeal fashion), or had high-grade dysplasia. Based on the histologic results of the colonoscopy, subjects were classified into one of four mutually exclusive, hierarchical categories: normal colonoscopy (n = 30), hyperplastic polyp (n = 23), nonadvanced adenoma (n = 36), and advanced adenoma (n = 18). To increase recruitment of subjects with advanced adenoma, some subjects with polyps
1.0 cm were recruited and blood was drawn after the colonoscopy procedure was completed and the effect of the conscious sedation had abated. Over 92% of subjects with normal, hyperplastic, or nonadvanced adenoma were drawn preprocedure. Eight of 18 subjects with an advanced adenoma were drawn after procedure, usually within 45 min of the completion of the colonoscopy. Of the 18 cancer subjects recruited at the University of Pittsburgh, 11 had colon and 7 had rectal cancer; 2 had blood drawn precolonoscopy, and 16 were drawn preoperatively, in the holding area immediately before the cancer surgery. Samples were stored at 80°C before analysis.
|
CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 indirect ELISA. Serum samples were plated in 96-well Nunc Immunoplate MaxiSorb plates. Each plate consisted of samples from different groups; each sample was plated in duplicate at room temperature overnight with shaking. Serum samples from all groups were mixed and run in batches at the same time. Each plate consisted of samples from various control, polyp, and colon cancer groups. Samples were aspirated and blocked in Super Block (Pierce). The blocking buffer was removed and then washed with 1x TBS with 0.05% Tween 20 (TBS-T). Antibodies for CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 were added and incubated for 2 h at 37°C. The plates were rinsed and secondary antibody (KPL, Inc.) was added and incubated at 37°C for 2 h. The plates were washed with TBS-T followed by incubation with room temperature TMB substrate (KPL) for 30 s. The plates were then read at 630 nm using Pherastar plate reader (BMG Lab Tech).
Statistical analysis. We used exact methods based on the binomial distribution to obtain upper and lower bounds for 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) surrounding estimates of test sensitivity and specificity. When study results indicated perfect (100%) sensitivity or perfect (100%) specificity in a subgroup of interest, we report the lower 95% confidence bound. Otherwise, we report a symmetrical 95% CI. We used the area under the empirical receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to summarize the ability of a CCSA-3 or CCSA-4 test result to discriminate a colorectal cancer or advanced adenoma patient from a colonoscopy patient with findings no worse than nonadvanced adenoma. We used a bootstrap method with 500 iterations to estimate the 95% CI, for the area under the ROC curve (10).
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
A pilot study evaluating the CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 assays in 25 sera samples showed 100% sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing colorectal cancer from subjects with normal or hyperplastic polyps (data not shown). Absorbance levels were translated into peptide concentrations using equations generated from fitting known peptide concentrations to a sigmoidal curve resulting in cutoff points for CCSA-3 (2 µg/mL) and CCSA-4 (0.3 µg/mL). Samples were run on multiple plates over time and the assays resulted in values with tight concordance (coefficient of variation within 10%). On each plate, samples for each of the patient groups were run and these were distributed across the plates. Once the assay characteristics and cutoffs for this subset of samples were established and reproducible, we expanded our studies into larger sample population.
Our results show that the established cutoffs and the assays for both CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 work reproducibly and consistently. The mean levels of CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 are presented for each sample population (Table 1), and the individual values on a log scale are represented in dot-plot graphs (Fig. 1A and B ).
|
|
ROC analyses. We also evaluated the markers using ROC curves, which permit an analysis of the tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity at variable cut points. The ROC curves used colon cancers (n = 28) and advanced adenomas (n = 18) as the end point for detection compared with colonoscopy-assessed normals, hyperplastic polyps, and nonadvanced adenomas (total n = 89). For the detection of colorectal cancer and advanced adenoma, the area under the curve (AUC) for the CCSA-3 assay is 0.94 (95% CI, 0.900.98; Fig. 2A ). Cutpoint C (2.06 µg/mL) corresponds closely to the value we selected for analysis, 2.0 µg/mL. Lowering the cutpoint to point D, or 1.87 µg/mL, would increase the sensitivity for detection of colorectal cancer and advanced adenoma to 96% but lower the specificity to 81%.
|
Although combining CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 to improve sensitivity by allowing either test to be positive did improve sensitivity, the added benefit was rather small and was insignificant. As shown in Table 2, the utilization of both assays resulted in a higher sensitivity for individuals with advanced adenomas and colorectal cancers (91.3%) but slightly lowered the specificity for normal, hyperplastic, and nonadvanced adenoma populations (78.7%). Although the ROC curve for the combined CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 (Supplementary Fig. S2) has an AUC of 0.957 (95% CI, 0.910.98), it is not statistically significant when compared with the AUC of CCSA-3 (P = 0.122) and CCSA-4 (P = 0.239). This is not surprising because the Pearson correlation coefficient for CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 was 0.65 (95% CI, 0.580.72), indicating that the assays are highly correlated.
We found no significant association between cancer stage or between adenoma size and CCSA-3 or CCSA-4 concentration (data not shown). In control subjects without evidence of colorectal neoplasia (UPMC normal and hyperplastic polyp, JHU benign disease, and JHU other cancer; total n = 178), CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 distributions were not statistically different in persons less than 60 versus 60 or more years of age. Men had higher CCSA-3 values than women (median, 1.39 versus 0.95 µg/mL; P = 0.003). In neoplasia-free subjects from UPMC (UPMC normal and hyperplastic; total n = 53), CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 distributions did not differ according to timing of blood draw, history of polyps, or personal history of cancer. However, median CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 values were higher in persons with than in persons without a family cancer history [CCSA-3, 1.27 versus 0.74 µg/mL (P = 0.03); CCSA-4, 0.16 versus 0.11 (P = 0.04)]. Sensitivity and specificity levels did not significantly change when the 25 subjects in the pilot phase were excluded from the analysis.
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The increase in mean values from nonadenomatous pathology (hyperplastic and normal) to nonadvanced adenomatous pathology and further increase with advanced adenoma and cancer mirrors the pathologic development of disease along the adenoma-carcinoma sequence. Advanced adenomas were collected prospectively from subjects undergoing colonoscopy, in a similar fashion to the normals and those with hyperplastic polyps, further substantiating that the higher levels observed with advanced adenomas represent a real finding. Cancers collected at two different participating clinical centers gave similar results as did controls. Finally, other cancers and benign conditions generally did not exceed the threshold values for a positive test, supporting the specificity of these assays for colorectal pathology. In our analyses, we did not observe any significant variations in the serum levels of the proteins despite some differences in when the samples were collected. Finally, these assays are based on ELISA methods, which are easily standardized and reproducible.
Although both proteins may be closely related or isoforms due to their similar molecular weights but slightly different isoelectric focusing points, the fact that the cutoff values are different from one another suggests that CCSA-3 may be more abundant in serum compared with CCSA-4. Studies determining the complete protein sequence and identification of the genes that encode CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 are in progress. Determining how these proteins work could enhance our understanding of the biological events that foster the evolution from adenoma to carcinoma.
These results represent characterization of an assay and are not designed to determine the performance of this assay in screening patients for colorectal cancer in that the populations studied in this article are not representative of distributions found in a screening population. Future studies should, as best possible, evaluate an unselected screening population. In conclusion, our findings show that CCSA-3 and CCSA-4 show promise as potential serum markers for detection of colorectal cancer and advanced adenoma. Although further validation and study is needed, the promise of a blood test for colorectal cancer may be upon us.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
| Footnotes |
|---|
Financial disclosures: Dr. R.H. Getzenberg holds a patent for the technology described in this article. This patent is owned by the University of Pittsburgh and has been licensed to Onconome, Inc. Dr. R.H. Getzenberg is a consultant to the company. None of the other authors have relationships related to this work.
Received 2/19/07. Revised 3/ 5/07. Accepted 3/29/07.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
N. Shehadeh, S. Pollack, G. Wildbaum, Y. Zohar, I. Shafat, R. Makhoul, E. Daod, F. Hakim, R. Perlman, and N. Karin Selective Autoantibody Production against CCL3 Is Associated with Human Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus and Serves As a Novel Biomarker for Its Diagnosis J. Immunol., June 15, 2009; 182(12): 8104 - 8109. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I Zlobec and A Lugli Prognostic and predictive factors in colorectal cancer Postgrad. Med. J., August 1, 2008; 84(994): 403 - 411. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I Zlobec and A Lugli Prognostic and predictive factors in colorectal cancer J. Clin. Pathol., May 1, 2008; 61(5): 561 - 569. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. S. Leman, R. E. Schoen, A. Magheli, L. J. Sokoll, D. W. Chan, and R. H. Getzenberg Evaluation of Colon Cancer-Specific Antigen 2 as a Potential Serum Marker for Colorectal Cancer Clin. Cancer Res., March 1, 2008; 14(5): 1349 - 1354. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Cancer Research | Clinical Cancer Research |
| Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention | Molecular Cancer Therapeutics |
| Molecular Cancer Research | Cancer Prevention Research |
| Cancer Prevention Journals Portal | Cancer Reviews Online |
| Annual Meeting Education Book | Meeting Abstracts Online |