Cancer Immunity 2:10 (2002)

Urine antibody against human cancer antigen NY-ESO-1

Dirk Jäger¹, Elisabeth Stockert², Julia Karbach¹, Kristina Herrlinger¹, Akin Atmaca¹, Michael Arand³, Yao-Tseng Chen², Sacha Gnjatic², Lloyd J. Old², Alexander Knuth¹, and Elke Jäger¹

¹II. Medizinische Klinik, Hämatologie - Onkologie, Krankenhaus Nordwest, Frankfurt, Germany
²Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York Branch at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA
³Institut für Toxikologie, Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany

Keywords: human, tumor antibodies, urine, NY-ESO-1, Western blotting, ELISA

Abstract

NY-ESO-1 is one of the most immunogenic tumor antigens known to date. Spontaneous humoral and cellular immune responses against NY-ESO-1 are detected in a substantial proportion of patients with NY-ESO-1 positive cancers. NY-ESO-1 serum antibody is dependent on the presence of NY-ESO-1+ cancer cells, and antibody titers correlate with the clinical development of the disease. NY-ESO-1 serum antibody is associated with detectable NY-ESO-1-specific CD8+ T cell reactivity. High titers of NY-ESO-1 serum antibodies are found in patients with advanced NY-ESO-1+ malignancies. Urine samples of seropositive patients with normal kidney function were tested for NY-ESO-1 antibody by Western blotting and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Antibodies to NY-ESO-1 were found in the urine of patients whose NY-ESO-1 serum antibody titers were 1:10,000 or higher by Western blotting. In patients with weak (positive at 1:250, negative at 1:1,000) or no reactivity, urine antibody was not detectable. No urine NY-ESO-1 antibody was found in patients without detectable NY-ESO-1 serum antibody. Our results show that urine analysis for NY-ESO-1 antibody identifies patients with strong NY-ESO-1 immunity. Urine antibody detection may also be of value in the monitoring of spontaneous and vaccine-induced immunity against other defined tumor antigens.