Identification of Serum Amyloid A Protein As a Potentially Useful Biomarker to Monitor Relapse of Nasopharyngeal Cancer by Serum Proteomic Profiling

Abstract

Purpose: Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) is a common cancer in Hong Kong, and relapse can occur frequently. Using protein chip profiling analysis, we aimed to identify serum biomarkers that were useful in the diagnosis of relapse in NPC.Experimental Design: Profiling analysis was performed on 704 sera collected from 42 NPC patients, 39 lung cancer patients, 30 patients with the benign metabolic disorder thyrotoxicosis (TX), and 35 normal individuals (NM). Protein profile in each NPC patient during clinical follow up was correlated with the relapse status.Results: Profiling analysis identified two biomarkers with molecular masses of 11.6 and 11.8 kDa, which were significantly elevated in 22 of 31 (71%) and 21 of 31 (68%) NPC patients, respectively, at the time of relapse (RP) as compared with 11 patients in complete remission (CR; RP versus CR, P ‫؍‬ 0.009), 30 TX (RP versus TX, P < 0.001), or 35 NM (RP versus NM, P < 0.001). The markers were also elevated in 16 of 39 (41%) lung cancer patients at initial diagnosis. By tryptic digestion, followed by tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation, the markers were identified as two isoforms of serum amyloid A (SAA) protein. Monitoring the patients longitudinally for SAA level both by protein chip and immunoassay showed a dramatic SAA increase, which correlated with relapse and a drastic fall correlated with response to salvage chemotherapy. Serum SAA findings were compared with those of serum Epstein-Barr virus DNA in three relapsed patients showing a similar correlation with relapse and chemo-response.Conclusions: SAA could be a useful biomarker to monitor relapse of NPC.

Validation of SELDI-TOF MS serum protein profiles for renal cell carcinoma in new populations

“…The cluster of SAA peaks has also been mentioned in several other reports. In a study in ovarian cancer it was found in about half of the patients, 26 and a study in nasopharyngeal cancer 27 showed an increase of SAA in B70% of these patients and in B40% of lung cancer patients. These peaks are thus not specific for RCC, but Figure 7 Identification of the serum amyloid-a (SAA) peak cluster by immunocapture.…”

Serum Protein Profiling to Identify High-Risk Neuroblastoma: Preclinical Relevance of Blood-Based Biomarkers

“…HP is a well characterized APP with increasing evidence as a cancer biomarker [21][22][23][24][25]. Lastly, SAA is an acute phase apolipoprotein associated as a marker of cancer progression [26][27][28][29][30]. In NB, Combaret et al identified high SAA levels were detected in patient sera with poor prognosis [31].…”

Serum Amyloid A is a Novel Prognostic Biomarker in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

“…In chronic inflammation, however, which plays a critical role in tumor development, SAA levels increase substantially and indeed also increase in a number of neoplastic diseases. It has been observed in previous studies that the SAA level increases in patients with stomach, lung, renal, colorectal, breast and other forms of cancers (Biran et al, 1986;Glojnaric et al, 2001;Kimura et al, 2001;O'Hanlon et al, 2002;Cho et al, 2004;Chan et al, 2007;Farooqui et al, 2012). With regard to HCC, only one research confirmed the relation of circulating SAA with HCC, and verified a gradual increase of SAA levels in serum from normal to HBV and then to HCC, but cannot be regarded as a specific indicator for assessing HBV and HCC.…”