Identification of CLP36 as a tumor antigen that induces an antibody response in pancreatic cancer.

PURPOSE: Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis, due in part to the lack of an effective approach for its early detection. The identification of tumor antigens potentially provides a means for the early diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to use a proteomic approach for the identification of proteins that commonly induce a humoral response in patients with pancreatic cancer.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Proteins from the pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line, BxPC3, were subjected to two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by Western blot analysis, where individual sera were tested for autoantibodies. Sera from 36 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and 68 from control groups (14 from lung adenocarcinoma, 19 from colon adenocarcinoma and 35 from healthy subjects) were analyzed. CLP36 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemical analysis and real-time PCR. The cellular localization of CLP36 as an autoantigen was investigated by Western blot analysis.
RESULTS: The autoantibody was detected against a protein, identified by mass spectrometry as CLP36, in 14 of the 36 sera (38.9%) from patients with a pancreatic adenocarcinoma, and 3 of the 68 controls (4.4%). Immunohistochemical analysis of CLP36 in a tissue array demonstrated diffuse and consistent immunoreactivity in the pancreatic adenocarcinomas. The levels of CLP36 mRNA were highest in the pancreatic cancer cell lines of the different cells analyzed. The molecular weight of the protein displayed in the membrane-rich fraction was larger than that in the cytosolic fraction, which is likely attributable to a post-translational modification.
CONCLUSION: CLP36 was identified as a tumor autoantigen inducing a humoral immune response in pancreatic adenocarcinomas. More detailed studies need to be undertaken to understand whether the humoral response by CLP36 is tumor-specific.