Application of proximity ligation assays to identify potential plasma biomarkers in oral cavity cancer patients: A case control study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Lin, Jin-Ching^{a; d} | Wang, Chen-Chi^{b; d} | Jiang, Rong-San^b | Wang, Wen-Yi^e | Liu, Shih-An^{b; c; d; f; *}

Affiliations: [a] Department of Radiation Oncology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan | [b] Department of Otolaryngology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan | [c] Center for Quality Management, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan | [d] Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan | [e] Department of Nursing, HungKuang University, Taichung, Taiwan | [f] Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Shih-An Liu, Center for Quality Management, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, No. 1650, Sec 4, Taiwan Boulevard, Taichung, 40705, Taiwan. Tel.: +886 4 23592525 ext 2079; Fax: +886 4 23596868; E-mail: an1654@seed.net.tw.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Practical cancer biomarkers for oral cavity cancer are currently in limited use. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the differences in soluble E-cadherin between patients with oral cavity cancer and matched healthy participants via Proximity Ligation Assay (PLA). METHODS: Samples were taken from both patients diagnosed with oral cavity cancer, as well as non-cancerous participants. PLA was used to detect soluble E-cadherin and Cycle threshold (Ct) values derived from qPCR in order to calculate the number of starting amplicons. RESULTS: In total, 74 patients with oral cavity cancer and 55 matched non-cancerous participants were included for final analysis. The Ct value of E-cadherin was found to be lower in oral cavity cancer patients when compared with that of the matched non-cancerous participants (20.72 ± 0.39 versus 21.27 ± 0.45, P< 0.001). Using a Ct value of 20.9 as a cut-off point, the sensitivity and specificity of discriminating patients with oral cavity cancer from the healthy controls was 63.5% and 87.3%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Plasma soluble E-cadherin levels were significantly higher in patients with oral cavity cancer when compared with those from the matched non-cancerous participants.

Keywords: Oral cavity cancer, proximity ligation assay, biomarker, squamous cell carcinoma, E-cadherin

DOI: 10.3233/CBM-191195

Journal: Cancer Biomarkers, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 17-23, 2020