Detection of leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1-containing immunocomplexes in the plasma of lung cancer patients with epitope-specific mAbs

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. With the expectation of improved survival, tremendous efforts and resources have been invested in the discovery of specific biomarkers for early detection of the disease. Several investigators have reported the presence of cancer-associated autoantibodies in the plasma or serum of lung cancer patients. Previously, we used a monoclonal-antibody proteomics technology platform for the discovery of novel lung cancer-associated proteins. OBJECTIVE: The identification of specific protein epitopes associated with various cancers is a promising method in biomarker discovery. Here, in a preliminary study, we aimed to detect autoantibody-leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) immunocomplexes using epitope-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). METHODS: We performed sandwich ELISA assays using the LRG1 epitope-specific capture mAbs, Bsi0352 and Bsi0392, and an IgG-specific polyclonal antibody coupled to a reporter system as the detection reagent. We tested the plasma of lung-cancer patients and apparently healthy controls. RESULTS: Depending on the epitope specificity of the capture monoclonal mAb, we were either unable to distinguish the control from LC-groups or showed a higher level of LRG1 and IgG autoantibody containing immunocomplexes in the plasma of non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer subgroups of lung cancer patients than in the plasma of control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underline the importance of protein epitope-specific antibody targeted approaches in biomarker research, as this may increase the accuracy of previously described tests, which will need further validation in large clinical cohorts.