Abstract B09: Fetuin-A, an emerging biomarker for breast and prostate cancer Free

We hypothesized that fetuin-A, a liver derived glycoprotein would be a useful biomarker to follow for the progression of prostate and breast cancer particularly in African American patients. For many years, conflicting reports have appeared in the literature regarding the role of fetuin-A in the progression of a number of solid tumors. The majority of the studies have reported that the serum levels of fetuin-A drops as tumors progress, suggesting a tumor suppressive role for the protein. We on the other hand, demonstrated that it is a significant tumor growth promoter in vitro. In the recent past, a number of laboratories, including ours, have indicated that fetuin-A is actively synthesized by high grade tumors.

In the present study, we investigated the appearance of fetuin-A autoantibodies in the sera of 12 prostate and breast cancer patients, 60% of whom were African Americans. We demonstrated the presence of fetuin-A auto antibodies in all except two of the tumor serum specimens. Blood of normal tumor free individuals do not show fetuin-A autoantibodies. We also subjected tissue microarrays of prostate and breast tumors to immune-histochemical analysis of fetuin-A. Our data show a dramatic increase in the synthesis of fetuin-A in the TMA particularly in high grade tumors. Taken together, these results suggest that as tumors become more aggressive they may synthesize fetuin-A which then presents as a new antigen in the blood that provokes the synthesis of auto-antibodies, which could be a biomarker of advanced or metastatic disease. Furthermore, the study suggests that fetuin-A itself could be a significant surrogate marker of aggressive tumors of the prostate or breast particularly in African Americans.

Citation Format: Gladys Nangami, Josiah Ochieng, Ebenezer Appah, Philip E. Lammers. Fetuin-A, an emerging biomarker for breast and prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eighth AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 13-16, 2015; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2016;25(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B09.