Anti-survivin antibody responses in lung cancer

Existing evidence regarding spontaneous anti-survivin humoral responses in lung cancer is inconclusive. Moreover, despite that cancer cell death elicited by radiotherapy and some chemotherapeutic agents seems to be immunogenic, information about the possible effect of treatment on these responses, is lacking. Serum samples from 33 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 117 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients upon diagnosis, and from 100 controls, were tested by ELISA for anti-survivin antibodies. Cutoff was set to the mean + 2SD of controls. 7.7% of NSCLC, none of the SCLC patients and 2% of the controls appeared with elevated antibody levels (OR 3.6, 95% CI 0.7–17.3 for NSCLC, OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.03–12.6 for SCLC). Measurement of antibodies in 76 NSCLC patients post therapies and during their follow-up, revealed that in 12 NSCLC patients the antibody levels increased up to 2–38 times, and in seven others, they decreased by 2–8 times. No significant correlation was uncovered between either the antibody levels upon diagnosis or their changes post therapies and during follow-up, and any clinicopathological parameter, their response to therapy and survival. Survivin does not induce considerable humoral responses in lung cancer. Potentially, however, strong anti-survivin antibody responses can be elicited during the post therapy and follow-up of the patients, whose clinical significance remains to be elucidated. These findings, together with our previous data concerning survivin expression and the related cytolytic T cell responses in lung cancer, signify a high tolerogenic potential of this tumor-associated antigen.