HLA-G as a new tumor biomarker: detection of soluble isoforms of HLA-G in the serum and saliva of patients with colorectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION:Recent medical investigations suggest that HLA-G, due to its tolerogenic properties, can be used as a biomarker in the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of different neoplasms. This observational prospective pilot study aims at detecting sHLA-G in the serum and saliva of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC). For this purpose, we compared the expression of sHLA-G from patients with a control sample from a healthy population. MATERIALS AND METHODS:Using the specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, the expression of sHLA-G in the serum and saliva samples from patients affected by CRC (n = 20) and in a control sample (n = 10) were analyzed. RESULTS:The data showed that in patients with CRC, salivary sHLA-G values were significantly higher than in the control group (18.84 U/ml versus 6.3 U/ml, p = 0.036). In addition, higher levels of sHLA-G were observed in the saliva of patients with CRC in more advanced stages, compared with patients in early stages (24.2 U/ml vs. 8.1 U/ml, p = 0.019). A significant correlation was observed between the concentration of sHLA-G in the serum and saliva of the analyzed samples (Spearman correlation 0.7, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates, for the first time, the possibility of detecting sHLA-G in the saliva of patients with CRC, resulting in a less invasive alternative to venipuncture. Likewise, we propose that sHLA-G could be an attractive molecular target based on its significant high levels in advanced stages.

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