Research Roundup: Prognostic Biomarkers in Cancer

Antibody-based biomarker discovery can lead to more accurate diagnosis and a better assessment of patient prognosis, ultimately improving outcomes for cancer patients around the world. Today we talk about prognostic biomarkers in early-stage ovarian cancer, a new panel of biomarkers able to distinguish between different forms of lung cancer and a nuclear transcription factor as biomarkers in prostate cancers. The following three studies have all successfully utilized different Atlas Antibodies products in their research. 

Read on to learn about our antibodies in action!

1. Validation of novel prognostic biomarkers for early-stage clear-cell endometrioid and mucinous ovarian carcinomas using immunohistochemistry (Engqvist et al. 2020)

Some early-stage ovarian cancer patients die unexpectedly and much earlier than expected. It’s therefore important to stratify these patients into risk groups to identify those in need of more aggressive treatment regimens.

This new study is important in validating 17 novel histotype-specific biomarkers for three of the major histotypes of early-stage ovarian cancer: clear cell ovary carcinoma, endometrioid, and mucinous ovary carcinomas. These markers have not been connected with the prognosis of these histotypes before.

In this study, 11 polyclonal antibodies from Atlas Antibodies were used. Here is a selection:

• Anti-ARPC2 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA008352) - Atlas Antibodies
  
  
• Anti-DDX24 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA002554) - Atlas Antibodies
  
  
• Anti-FOXM1 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA029974) - Atlas Antibodies
  
  
• Anti-KIF15 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA035517) - Atlas Antibodies
  
  
• Anti-KIF26B Polyclonal Antibody (HPA028562) - Atlas Antibodies
  
  
• Anti-KNTC1 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA025241) - Atlas Antibodies

Ref: Engqvist H, Parris TZ, Kovács A, et al. Validation of Novel Prognostic Biomarkers for Early-Stage Clear-Cell, Endometrioid and Mucinous Ovarian Carcinomas Using Immunohistochemistry. Frontiers in Oncology. 2020;10:162.
 

2. The value of desmosomal plaque-related markers to distinguish squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung (Galindo et al. 2020)

Lung carcinomas can be difficult to manage and are often challenging to diagnose histologically. An antibody panel is needed to definitively differentiate between adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) to meet more stringent requirements for the histologic classification of lung cancers. Staining of desmosomal plaque-related proteins may be useful in the diagnosis of lung SCC.

This new study provides an addition to the arsenal of IHC panel biomarkers able to distinguish between aggressive or the difficult to diagnose forms of lung cancer by demonstrating PKP1 as a marker of prognostic value.

Two of the primary antibodies used in this study are:

• Anti-PKP1 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA027221) - Atlas Antibodies
• Anti-KRT15 Polyclonal Antibody (HPA023910) - Atlas Antibodies

Ref: Galindo I, Gómez-Morales M, Díaz-Cano I, Andrades Á, Caba-Molina M, Miranda-León MT, Medina PP, Martín-Padron J, Fárez-Vidal ME. The value of desmosomal plaque-related markers to distinguish squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the lung. Ups J Med Sci. 2020 Feb;125(1):19-29.

3. Upregulation of the transcription factor TFAP2D is associated with aggressive tumor phenotype in prostate cancer lacking the TMPRSS2: ERG fusion (Fraune et al. 2020)

Nuclear transcription factor TFDA2 is upregulated in genomically unstable prostate tumors and is associated with poor patient prognosis.

The study authors found that TFAP2D expression was typically increased in prostate cancer as compared to adjacent non-neoplastic glands and identified TFDA2 as a novel IHC marker, which together with other markers, could be utilized to obtain a more accurate diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancers.

The study used the Anti-TFAP2D Polyclonal Antibody (HPA048962)

Ref: Fraune, C., Harms, L., Büscheck, F. et al. Upregulation of the transcription factor TFAP2D is associated with aggressive tumor phenotype in prostate cancer lacking the TMPRSS2:ERG fusion. Mol Med 26, 24 (2020).