• Seromics™ Profiling Assay
• › Cancer/Testis
• › Melanoma
• › Lung
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• › NY-ESO 1
• › Glioblastoma
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• › NSCLC

Monitoring changes in NY-ESO-1

An important biomarker in patient selection, prognostics and early detection

Cancer Testis (CT) antigens are immunogenic cancer proteins of embryonic origin. Autoantibodies to CT antigens make attractive serum biomarkers since expression of these antigens is usually absent in normal adult tissue.

NY-ESO-1, a proprietary CT antigen, is emerging as one of the most important tumor antigens so far discovered (1,2). Also known as CTAG1b or LAGE2b, serum antibodies to the antigen NY-ESO-1 are very rare in healthy individuals. Accordingly, NY-ESO-1 has great diagnostic and prognostic potential. Indeed there is increasing evidence that serum auto-antibodies to NY-ESO-1 are indicative of patient prognosis (2,3) and may even be predictive of drug response across a wide range of diseases and drugs.

Figure 1. In this study serum from melanoma patients was tested for antibodies to NY-ESO-1. Patients were
subsequently treated with a novel melanoma drug (Bristol-Myers Squibb) as part of a clinical trial.

"Five of the eight patients with evidence of clinical benefit had NY-ESO-1 antibody, whereas none of seven clinical nonresponders was seropositive for NY-ESO-1" (2)

NY-ESO-1 is one of several antigens that have attracted attention because of their frequent spontaneous immunogenicity in cancer patients, notably in their ability to induce humoral responses. With the identification of tumor antigens, the host immune response to various types of cancers can now be studied with a high degree of specificity in large cohorts of patients, with the aim to correlate immunity with clinical events and defining immunotherapeutic strategies (4).

 Figure 2. Baseline serum antibodies to NY-ESO-1 correlates with drug response, adapted from Yuan et al. (2).

New research tool is a fast assay for NY-ESO-1 antibodies in serum
Serametrix has partnered with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research to provide a high-throughput, quick turnaround serum profiling assay for NY-ESO-1. Using small amounts of serum, the Seromic™ Profiling Assay measures the humoral immune response to NY-ESO-1 across a wide serum dilution range. The assay has been developed to allow high throughput sample processing, delivering data within weeks.

For more information on the NY-ESO-1 Seromic™ Profiling Assay, contact us today.

References:

1. Odunsi et al, Vaccination with an NY-ESO-1 peptide of HLA class I/II specificities induced integrated humoral and T cell responses in ovarian cancer

2. Yuan, J. et al, CTLA-4 blockade enhances polyfunctional NY-ESO-1 specific T cell reponses in metastatis melanoma patients with clinical benefit,  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Dec 23;105(51):20410-5. 

3. Isobe, M., et al, Correlation of high and decreased NY-ESO-1 immunity to spontaneous regression and subsequent recurrence in a lung cancer patient, Cancer Immun. 2009 Oct 1;9:8.

4. Gnjatic, S et al, Autoantibodies against cancer antigens, Methods Mol Biol. 2009;520:11-9.