Abstract
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Antibodies Against Epstein-Barr Virus Glycoprotein gp42 for the Diagnosis of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
by Rui-Chen Li, Yong Du, Qiu-Yao Zeng, Lin-Quan Tang, Hua Zhang, Yan Li, Wan-Li Liu, Qian Zhong, Mu-Sheng Zeng, Xiao-Ming Huang
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Background: Assessment of immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibody responses to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antigen is important for the early diagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). EBV glycoprotein gp42 has been shown to play an essential role in membrane fusion with B cells. The aim of the present study was to assess whether the antibodies to EBV glycoprotein gp42 in serum could be a novel marker for diagnosis of NPC.
Methods: EBV glycoprotein gp42 expressed in the recombinant baculovirus system was used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect antibodies to gp42 in serum. The blood samples were obtained from 406 participants (n = 208 patients with NPC and 198 healthy controls). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) was used to calculate diagnostic accuracy.
Results: The ROC curves showed that IgA-gp42 ELISA had a sensitivity of 76.4%, specificity of 78.3% and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.856 (95% CI, 0.82 - 0.891) to diagnose NPC. Furthermore, gp42 maintained diagnostic capacity in NPC patients who were IgA-viral capsid antigen (VCA) negative (87.5%, 64.1% and 0.844 [95% CI, 0.776 - 0.912]). Combining gp42 and VCA improved the diagnostic capacity compared with the individual tests (89.9%, 94.4% and 0.973 [95% CI, 0.959 - 0.987]).
Conclusions: The EBV glycoprotein complex gp42 acts as a novel biomarker for diagnosis of NPC and improves identification of patients with VCA-negative NPC.
DOI: 10.7754/Clin.Lab.2015.150723
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