Diagnostic potential of nanoparticle aided assays for MUC16 and MUC1 glycovariants in ovarian cancer

Our study reports the discovery and evaluation of nanoparticle aided sensitive assays for glycovariants of MUC16 and MUC1 in a unique collection of paired ovarian cyst fluids and serum samples obtained at or prior to surgery for ovarian carcinoma suspicion. Selected glycovariants and the immunoassays for CA125, CA15-3 and HE4 were compared and validated in 347 cyst fluid and serum samples. Whereas CA125 and CA15-3 performed poorly in cyst fluid to separate carcinoma and controls, four glycovariants including MUC16(MGL), MUC16(STn), MUC1(STn) and MUC1(Tn) provided highly improved separations. In serum, the two STn glycovariants outperformed conventional CA125, CA15-3 and HE4 assays in all subcategories analyzed with main benefits obtained at high specificities and at postmenopausal and early-stage disease. Serum MUC16(STn) performed best at high specificity (90%-99%), but sensitivity was also improved by the other glycovariants and CA15-3. The highly improved specificity, excellent analytical sensitivity and robustness of the nanoparticle assisted glycovariant assays carry great promise for improved identification and early detection of ovarian carcinoma in routine differential diagnostics.Peer reviewe

A longitudinal analysis of CA125 glycoforms in the monitoring and follow up of high grade serous ovarian cancer

ObjectiveCancer antigen 125 (CA125) is generally considered the gold standard of biomarkers in the diagnosis and monitoring of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC). We recently reported, that two CA125 glycoforms (CA125-STn and CA125-MGL) have a high specificity to HGSC and further hypothesized, that these cancer specific glycoforms are feasible candidates as biomarkers in HGSC treatment and follow up.MethodsOur cohort consisted of 122 patients diagnosed with HGSC. Serum samples were collected longitudinally at the time of diagnosis, during treatment and follow up. Serum levels of CA125, CA125-STn and CA125-MGL were determined and compared or correlated with different end points (tumor load assessed intraoperatively, residual disease, treatment response, progression free survival).ResultsSerum CA125-STn levels at diagnosis differentiated patients with low tumor load and high tumor load (p = 0,030), indicating a favorable detection of tumor volume. Similarly, the CA125-STn levels at diagnosis were significantly lower in patients with subsequent complete cytoreduction than in patients with suboptimal cytoreduction (p = 0,025). Conventional CA125 did not differentiate these patients (p = 0,363 and p = 0,154). The CA125-STn nadir value predicted the progression free survival of patients. The detection of disease relapse was improved with CA125-STn, which presented higher fold increase in 80,0% of patients and earlier increase in 37,0% of patients.ConclusionsCA125-STn showed promise as a useful biomarker in the monitoring and follow up of patients with HGSC utilizing a robust and affordable technique. Our findings are topical as a suitable indicator of tumor load facilitates patient selection in an era of new targeted therapies.</div

Diagnostic potential of nanoparticle aided assays for MUC16 and MUC1 glycovariants in ovarian cancer

Our study reports the discovery and evaluation of nanoparticle aided sensitive assays for glycovariants of MUC16 and MUC1 in a unique collection of paired ovarian cyst fluids and serum samples obtained at or prior to surgery for ovarian carcinoma suspicion. Selected glycovariants and the immunoassays for CA125, CA15-3 and HE4 were compared and validated in 347 cyst fluid and serum samples. Whereas CA125 and CA15-3 performed poorly in cyst fluid to separate carcinoma and controls, four glycovariants including MUC16(MGL), MUC16(STn), MUC1(STn) and MUC1(Tn) provided highly improved separations. In serum, the two STn glycovariants outperformed conventional CA125, CA15-3 and HE4 assays in all subcategories analyzed with main benefits obtained at high specificities and at postmenopausal and early-stage disease. Serum MUC16(STn) performed best at high specificity (90%-99%), but sensitivity was also improved by the other glycovariants and CA15-3. The highly improved specificity, excellent analytical sensitivity and robustness of the nanoparticle assisted glycovariant assays carry great promise for improved identification and early detection of ovarian carcinoma in routine differential diagnostics

Exploratory Analysis of CA125-MGL and –STn Glycoforms in the Differential Diagnostics of Pelvic Masses

BackgroundThe cancer antigen 125 (CA125) immunoassay (IA) does not distinguish epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) from benign disease with the sensitivity needed in clinical practice. In recent studies, glycoforms of CA125 have shown potential as biomarkers in EOC. Here, we assessed the diagnostic abilities of two recently developed CA125 glycoform assays for patients with a pelvic mass. Detailed analysis was further conducted for postmenopausal patients with marginally elevated conventionally measured CA125 levels, as this subgroup presents a diagnostic challenge in the clinical setting.MethodsOur study population contained 549 patients diagnosed with EOC, benign ovarian tumors, and endometriosis. Of these, 288 patients were postmenopausal, and 98 of them presented with marginally elevated serum levels of conventionally measured CA125 at diagnosis. Preoperative serum levels of conventionally measured CA125 and its glycoforms (CA125-MGL and CA125-STn) were determined.ResultsThe CA125-STn assay identified EOC significantly better than the conventional CA125-IA in postmenopausal patients (85% vs. 74% sensitivity at a fixed specificity of 90%, P = 0.0009). Further, both glycoform assays had superior AUCs compared to the conventional CA125-IA in postmenopausal patients with marginally elevated CA125. Importantly, the glycoform assays reduced the false positive rate of the conventional CA125-IA.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the CA125 glycoform assays markedly improve the performance of the conventional CA125-IA in the differential diagnosis of pelvic masses. This result is especially valuable when CA125 is marginally elevated.</div

Differential detection of cancer antigen-125 glycovariant for the diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer

Cancer antigen 125 (CA125) is the established serum biomarker for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) diagnostic, however, it is also elevated in benign conditions such as endometriosis. Altered glycosylation during cancer progression is a universal phenomenon and the Sialyl-Tn antigen is one of the EOC-associated carbohydrate antigens. Therefore, we here evaluated whether an anti-STn-mAb could provide improved discrimination between CA125 in blood samples from patients with benign and malignant conditions. CA125 from the OVCAR3 cell line, ascitic fluid of liver cirrhosis (LC) patients and placental homogenate (Pla) was captured on anti-CA125 mAb immobilized on microtitration wells. Anti-STn 1242 mAb coated onto fluorescent europium-chelates-doped nanoparticles (Eu-NPs) was used to detect altered glycans of immobilized CA125. Serum samples from EOC (n=85) and endometriosis (n=41) patients with marginally elevated conventional CA125 levels (35-200 U/ml) and from healthy female controls (n=23) were analyzed. The new CA125STn assay, exhibited no cross-reactivity with LC or Pla- derived CA125. A highly significant (p < 0.0001) discrimination was found in marginally elevated EOC and endometriosis serum samples. The median difference between EOC and endometriosis was 16-fold as compared to 1.3-fold in the conventional CA125IA. The overall analytical sensitivity of the assay was found to be 0.35 U/ml. Our results suggest that the CA125STn assay could decisively help to reduce the false-positive rate of the conventional CA125IA. Therefore, we hypothesize that this novel assay can offer an alternative to the CA125 biomarker, with improved utility for early EOC detection in population screening programs

A longitudinal analysis of CA125 glycoforms in the monitoring and follow up of high grade serous ovarian cancer

Objective. Cancer antigen 125 (CM 25) is generally considered the gold standard of biomarkers in the diagnosis and monitoring of high grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC). We recently reported, that two CM 25 glycoforms (CA125-STn and CA125-MGL) have a high specificity to HGSC and further hypothesized, that these cancer specific glycoforms are feasible candidates as biomarkers in HGSC treatment and follow up. Methods. Our cohort consisted of 122 patients diagnosed with HGSC. Serum samples were collected longitudinally at the time of diagnosis, during treatment and follow up. Serum levels of CA125, CM 25-STn and CA125MGL were determined and compared or correlated with different end points (tumor load assessed intraoperatively, residual disease, treatment response, progression free survival). Results. Serum CA125-STn levels at diagnosis differentiated patients with low tumor load and high tumor load (p = 0,030), indicating a favorable detection of tumor volume. Similarly, the CA125-STn levels at diagnosis were significantly lower in patients with subsequent complete cytoreduction than in patients with suboptimal cytoreduction (p = 0,025). Conventional CA125 did not differentiate these patients (p = 0,363 and p = 0,154). The CA125-STn nadir value predicted the progression free survival of patients. The detection of disease relapse was improved with CA125-STn, which presented higher fold increase in 80,0% of patients and earlier increase in 37,0% of patients. Conclusions. CA125-STn showed promise as a useful biomarker in the monitoring and follow up of patients with HGSC utilizing a robust and affordable technique. Our findings are topical as a suitable indicator of tumor load facilitates patient selection in an era of new targeted therapies. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Combined seed and foliar pre-treatments with exogenous methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid mitigate drought-induced stress in maize.

Susceptibility of plants to abiotic stresses, including extreme temperatures, salinity and drought, poses an increasing threat to crop productivity worldwide. Here the drought-induced response of maize was modulated by applications of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) to seeds prior to sowing and to leaves prior to stress treatment. Pot experiments were conducted to ascertain the effects of exogenous applications of these hormones on maize growth, physiology and biochemistry under drought stress and well-watered (control) conditions. Maize plants were subjected to single as well as combined pre-treatments of MeJA and SA. Drought stress severely affected maize morphology and reduced relative water content, above and below-ground biomass, rates of photosynthesis, and protein content. The prolonged water deficit also led to increased relative membrane permeability and oxidative stress induced by the production of malondialdehyde (from lipid peroxidation), lipoxygenase activity (LOX) and the production of H2O2. The single applications of MeJA and SA were not found to be effective in maize for drought tolerance while the combined pre-treatments with exogenous MeJA+SA mitigated the adverse effects of drought-induced oxidative stress, as reflected in lower levels of lipid peroxidation, LOX activity and H2O2. The same pre-treatment also maintained adequate water status of the plants under drought stress by increasing osmolytes including proline, total carbohydrate content and total soluble sugars. Furthermore, exogenous applications of MeJA+SA approximately doubled the activities of the antioxidant enzymes catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase. Pre-treatment with MeJA alone gave the highest increase in drought-induced production of endogenous abscisic acid (ABA). Pre-treatment with MeJA+SA partially prevented drought-induced oxidative stress by modulating levels of osmolytes and endogenous ABA, as well as the activities of antioxidant enzymes. Taken together, the results show that seed and foliar pre-treatments with exogenous MeJA and/or SA can have positive effects on the responses of maize seedlings to drought