Plasma anti-ATP7A/ATP7B/COPT1 autoantibodies as potential biomarkers for breast cancer detection

Autoantibodies in the plasma demonstrate potential as biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Copper transport proteins ATP7A, ATP7B and COPT1, are represent potential diagnostic biomarkers. This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of plasma autoantibodies targeting ATP7A, ATP7B and COPT1 in breast cancer. The plasma expression levels of anti-ATP7A/ATP7B/COPT1 autoantibodies were detected in the cohort with 229 patients with breast cancer (BC), 214 patients with benign breast tumor (BBN), and 169 normal controls (NC) using the ELISA method. The expression levels of three autoantibodies were significantly lower in BC compared to BBN and NC groups. The combination of anti-ATP7A and anti-COPT1 could improve the diagnostic efficacy with an increased AUC value (AUC = 0.844, 95% CI, 0.764-0.925) in patients aged ≤50 years with early HER2+ breast cancer. This study demonstrates the clinical value of these three autoantibodies in the detection of BC, suggesting their potential as diagnostic biomarkers for BC.