Original Articles
Antineural and antinuclear autoantibodies are of prognostic relevance in non-small cell lung cancer

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-4975(99)01198-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Background. Autoantibodies against nervous system structures have been proven to be a prognostic factor in small cell lung cancer. However, little is known about humoral autoimmunity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its prognostic significance.

Methods. We examined antineural antibodies (AnAb) and antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in the sera of 61 patients with NSCLC (histologically: 29 adenocarcinoma, 32 squamous cell carcinoma). Twenty-one patients had stage I NSCLC, 11 stage II, and 29 patients stage III. Autoantibody detection was done by immunofluorescence test; Western blotting was used as a confirmation test.

Results. Of the NSCLC patients, 27.8% were antineural antibody positive, and 32.7% had ANA. No differences were found between the histological groups. AnAb-positive patients showed a better survival in all patients (p = 0.005). There was also a higher survival of ANA-positive patients, but this was only significant in stage III (p = 0.0025). Cox regression analysis showed that antineural and antinuclear antibodies are a stage-independent prognostic factor in NSCLC.

Conclusions. Antineural and antinuclear autoantibodies are a stage-independent prognostic factor in patients with NSCLC and may represent an effective immune response to the tumor.

Section snippets

Patients

Serum samples of 61 consecutive NSCLC patients (mean age 66.9 years) with potentially curative resection treatment were obtained before receiving surgical therapy after informed consent. Histological examination revealed adenocarcinoma in 29 and squamous cell carcinoma in 32 patients. There were 21 patients with stage I disease (T1N0: 5, T2N0: 16), 11 with stage II (T1N1: 2, T2N1: 9), 20 patients had stage IIIA (T3N0: 3, T3N1: 4, T1N2: 2, T2N2: 7, T3N2: 4), and 9 patients stage IIIB (1 patient

Results

A profile of the lung cancer patients studied is shown in Table 1. Autoantibodies were detectable in 33 out of 61 patients (54.1%). Of the adenocarcinoma patients, 51.7% were autoantibody positive (Ab-pos), and 56.2% of the squamous cell carcinoma patients were Ab-pos. There were no differences in the autoantibody frequency in the stages (stage I 52.3%, stage II 63.6%, stage III 51.7%). Autoantibody-positive patients had a significant better survival than autoantibody-negative patients (p =

Comment

Our study reveals a frequent humoral autoimmunity in patients with NSCLC. We were also able to show that antineural antibodies and antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are a stage-independent prognostic factor in lung non-small cell lung cancer.

The International Staging System for Lung Cancer provides a classification for the anatomic extent of NSCLC and has proven to be a predictor of prognosis 1, 2, 8. Although survival curves do confirm the relationship between the anatomy represented by the TNM

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the “Heinrich-Dietz-Stiftung for cancer research at the Saarland University,” project-Nr. TS 117/2/97.

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