Autoantibodies in breast cancer sera: candidate biomarkers and reporters of tumorigenesis

A plethora of promising breast cancer-associated autoantigens have been cloned by immunoscreening cDNA expression libraries with breast cancer sera or identified using proteomics, yet no biomarkers, whether individual autoantigens or panels of antigens developed using antibody-based methods have been validated and incorporated to routine oncologic practice for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Recently, the addition of genomics, proteomics and high throughput technology to traditional immunological techniques has revived the interest in this field, and some of the most promising breast cancer autoantigens are in the process of being validated prospectively in large cohorts of patients with breast cancer. In addition, some of the identified breast cancer-associated autoantigens are recognized by T-cells and may prove to have a role in the treatment of breast cancer in the future. Autoantibodies found in breast cancer patient sera provide important clues about their significance. The discovery of breast cancer-associated antigens has provocative implications beyond the quest for novel diagnostic biomarkers, because autoantibodies target molecules involved in signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, cell proliferation and apoptosis, all of them key processes in carcinogenesis. Molecular components of the DNA double-strand break repair machinery as well as several members of the rapamycin-sensitive pathway elicit an autoantibody response in breast cancer. Data obtained by screening cDNA expression libraries of breast cancer antigens with autoantibodies present in breast cancer sera suggest that autoantibodies in cancer sera may be linked to the process of apoptosis. The studies reviewed here, clearly demonstrate the participation of autoimmunity in breast cancer to an extent previously unsuspected, which may have broad implications for the discovery of molecular targets for drug therapy and cancer biomarkers in general.