Serological identification of tumor antigens of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Autoantibodies are often detected in the patients with esophageal cancer. We applied serological analysis of recombinant cDNA expression libraries (SEREX) to a case of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in order to identify tumor antigens. A cDNA library derived from an esophageal cancer cell line was bacterially expressed and screened for interaction with antibodies in five allogeneic sera of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. To examine the specific immunoreactivity of the antigens, sera from 16 more patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 16 patients with gastric cancer, 16 patients with colon cancer, 16 patients with breast cancer and 37 healthy volunteers were screened. We identified 11 independent cDNA clones that potentially encoded esophageal cancer tumor antigens. The identified cDNA clones were SURF1, HOOK2, CENP-F, ZIC2, hCLA-iso, Ki-1/57, enigma, HCA25a, SPK and two EST clones named LOC146223 and AGENCOURT_7565913. The sero-positive rates of antibodies against SURF1 (48%), LOC146223 (38%), HOOK2 (14%) and AGENCOURT_7565913 (14%) were significantly higher in esophageal cancer patients than in healthy controls. At least one of these antibodies was detected in 18 (86%) of 21 sera from esophageal cancer patients. A disease-specific humoral immune response against SURF1, LOC146223, HOOK2 or AGENCOURT_7565913 was observed in most patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Antibodies against these SEREX antigens may represent a pool of candidates for serum tumor markers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.