EA-D p45-IgG as a Potential Biomarker for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis

Abstract

Aim: To identify new biomarkers for NPC diagnosis with an anti-EBV Western blot test kit. <br/><b>Methods</b>:Serum samples from 64 NPC patients and healthy subjects with four specific VCA-IgA/EA-IgA profiles weretested with an anti-EBV Western blot test kit from EUROIMMUN AG. Proteins were quantified with scores ofintensity visually assigned to the protein bands. The markers which showed statistical differences between theNPC and non-NPC subjects were further evaluated in another 32 NPC patients and 32 controls in comparisonwith established biomarkers including VCA-IgA, EA-IgA, EBV-related protein IgG, and EBV DNA. <br/><b>Results</b>:Among the markers screened, EA-D p45-IgG showed a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between NPCand non-NPC subjects with VCA-IgA positivy. In 32 VCA-IgA positive NPC patients and 32 control subjects,the diagnostic accuracy of EA-D p45-IgG was 78.1% with a positive predictive value of 77.8% and a negativepredictive value of 78.6%. In the verification experiment, the specificity and sensitivity of EA-D p45-IgG were75.0% and 90.6 %, respectively. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: EA-D p45-IgG might be a potential biomarker for NPC diagnosis,especially among VCA-IgA positive subjects.