Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 14, 2019; 25(34): 5049-5068
Published online Sep 14, 2019. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v25.i34.5049
Autoantibodies: Potential clinical applications in early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma
Yi-Wei Xu, Yu-Hui Peng, Li-Yan Xu, Jian-Jun Xie, En-Min Li
Yi-Wei Xu, Yu-Hui Peng, Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Cancer Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Yi-Wei Xu, Yu-Hui Peng, Li-Yan Xu, Jian-Jun Xie, En-Min Li, The Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology for High Cancer Incidence Coastal Chaoshan Area, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Li-Yan Xu, Institute of Oncologic Pathology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Jian-Jun Xie, En-Min Li, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Xu YW collected data and wrote the manuscript; Peng YH collected data; Xu LY, Xie JJ and Li EM supervised the work and revised the manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31600632; and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, No. 2018A030307079.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: En-Min Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Shantou University Medical College, 22 Xinling Road, Shantou 515041, Guangdong Province, China. nmli@stu.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-754-88900847 Fax: +86-754-88900847
Received: May 15, 2019
Peer-review started: May 15, 2019
First decision: July 21, 2019
Revised: July 28, 2019
Accepted: August 19, 2019
Article in press: August 19, 2019
Published online: September 14, 2019
Abstract

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma (EGJA) are the two main types of gastrointestinal cancers that pose a huge threat to human health. ESCC remains one of the most common malignant diseases around the world. In contrast to the decreasing prevalence of ESCC, the incidence of EGJA is rising rapidly. Early detection represents one of the most promising ways to improve the prognosis and reduce the mortality of these cancers. Current approaches for early diagnosis mainly depend on invasive and costly endoscopy. Non-invasive biomarkers are in great need to facilitate earlier detection for better clinical management of patients. Tumor-associated autoantibodies can be detected at an early stage before manifestations of clinical signs of tumorigenesis, making them promising biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of ESCC and EGJA. In this review, we summarize recent insights into the iden-tification and validation of tumor-associated autoantibodies for the early detection of ESCC and EGJA and discuss the challenges remaining for clinical validation.

Keywords: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, Esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma, Biomarker, Autoantibody, Diagnosis

Core tip: The current protocol for early diagnosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma is endoscopic imaging followed by biopsy confirmation. However, the invasive nature of the procedure and high cost of endoscopy limit it as a tool for screening the general population. This review highlights autoantibodies as non-invasive biomarkers in the early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma.