The value of serum p53 antibody as a biomarker in oral and pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma

BackgroundThe development of more sensitive biomarkers for the detection of early-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is needed.Aims/ObjectivesThis study was performed to assess the value of serum p53 antibody (s-p53-Ab) as a biomarker for oral and pharyngeal carcinoma.Material and MethodsPre-treatment serum was collected for 71 patients with oral and pharyngeal carcinoma and 117 healthy volunteers as controls and analyzed s-p53-Ab using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).ResultsUsing 1.3 U/mL as the cut-off value, 14 of 71 patients (sensitivity 19.7%), and 12 of 117 control cases were positive for s-p53-Ab (specificity 89.7%). Excluding 12 cases of p16-positive oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal cancer which were all negative for s-p53-Ab, the sensitivity in early-stage 1-2 cases was 30.0%, which was higher than conventional tumor markers.Conclusions and SignificanceThe s-p53-Ab was not detected in any cases of virus-related cancer in which p53 gene mutations were not involved in carcinogenesis. Since the s-p53-Ab sensitivity was high even in early-stage disease, s-p53-Ab measurement may be useful as an early diagnostic biomarker in patients with oral, p16- oropharyngeal, and hypopharyngeal cancer.