肿瘤相关抗原抗体系统用于食管癌早期免疫诊断的评价和研究

食管癌是我国常见的恶性肿瘤之一，其显著的特征就是临床上可以鉴别出一组从食管上皮轻度增生、重度增生而逐渐发展为食管癌的病人。我们以前的研究表明肿瘤病人血清中存在的自身抗体是机体免疫系统针对参与细胞癌变过程中的一些细胞内抗原的免疫反应，这些细胞内抗原被称为肿瘤相关抗原。本研究在自然科学基金(2006.1.-2008.12)的资助下，应用蛋白质组学技术成功鉴定到47个食管癌相关蛋白，已全部进行质谱分析和氨基酸测序，并对其中11个文献报道与食管癌有关的蛋白进行了血清学和免疫学评价。拟申报课题将在前期研究的基础上,进一步使用蛋白质组学技术鉴定新的食管癌相关抗原，同时采用免疫学、分子生物学和细胞分子影像学等技术对本研究鉴定的食管癌相关抗原的分子特性进行分析和验证，设计针对食管癌特异的肿瘤相关抗原组合，并对其作为食管癌早期诊断标志的可行性进行评价，从而建立一种新的食管癌早期体外非侵入性免疫诊断技术。

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common cancers in China, which is unique among cancers in that it is possible to identify a cohort of pre-malignant patients with esophageal epithelial dysplasia, who are likely to develop esophageal cancer after a period of several years. Our previous studies have demonstrated that autoantibodies occurred in cancer patients are the immune response against intracellular antigens which might be involved in the malignant transformation process. These intracellular antigens have been generally called tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). With the help of previous funding from NSFC (2006.1-2008.12), a total of 47 EC-related proteins were identified by proteomic approach, and were analyzed by mass spectrometry. Eleven of 47 identified proteins were reported in literatures as EC-associated antigens, and were further evaluated by using serololgical and immunological methods. In this new application, we will continue to identify more EC-associated TAAs, and evaluate the feasibility of these identified TAAs being as early diagnostic markers with different approaches. The ultimate goal is to develop a mini-array of multiple TAAs (or TAA chip) which may enhance antibody detection and be a novel non-invasive approach for immunodiagnosis of esophageal cancer.