p53 autoantibodies in patients with malignant mesothelioma: stability through disease progression

Our plain-English summary of p53 autoantibodies in patients with malignant mesothelioma: stability through disease progression, by J. Creaney, B.M. McLaren, S. Stevenson, et al (British Journal of Cancer, 2001).

The study

• Authors: J. Creaney, B.M. McLaren, S. Stevenson, A.W. Musk, N. de Klerk, B.W. Robinson, R.A. Lake
• Journal: British Journal of Cancer
• Published: 2001;84(1):52-6
• Cited by: 17 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) generally occurs as a pleural tumour, related to the inhalation of asbestos fibres. It is highly aggressive and largely unresponsive to treatment. The incidence of MM is particularly high in Western Australia because of the extensive blue asbestos mining operations that occurred in the north of the state until 1966. MM is unusual in that mutations in the tumour suppressor gene p53 are rarely observed, whilst over-expression of p53 protein is common. As the level of antibodies directed against p53 is thought to be of prognostic value in some cancers and as MM is known to be immunogenic, we studied a cohort of Western Australian patients to determine the prevalence of anti-p53 antibodies and their value as diagnostic markers or prognostic indicators. 6/88 (7%) of patients had high titres (>2 SD above the mean of controls) of anti-p53 antibodies. There was no correlation between antibody titre and survival. Although 3/38 (8%) of sera obtained from patients exposed to asbestos but prior to a diagnosis of MM contained antibodies, the same proportion of sera obtained from patients exposed to asbestos but who remained disease free also contained antibodies (2/40; 8%). Sera collected sequentially demonstrated a profound temporal stability in the titre of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with MM throughout the course of their illness. These results show that anti-p53 antibodies are observed only at a low frequency in the sera of MM patients and where they do occur, their elicitation is an early event that may be unrelated to antigen load. The occurrence of anti-p53 antibodies does not serve as either a useful prognostic or diagnostic indicator in MM.

Copyright 2001 Cancer Research Campaign.

In plain English

This Western Australian laboratory study measured antibodies against the p53 protein in the blood of people with malignant mesothelioma (MM). The authors tested sera from 88 MM patients in Perth, healthy volunteers, and people previously exposed at work or in their environment to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, some of whom later developed MM. Six of the 88 patients (7%) had high levels (more than 2 standard deviations above the control average). The patients' average did not differ significantly from the controls'. No correlation between antibody level and survival was shown. Among exposed people, 3 of 38 sera (8%) taken before an MM diagnosis contained antibodies. In exposed people still disease-free when the report was written, 2 of 40 sera did. The article calls this the same proportion and prints 8%, though 2 of 40 is 5%. Repeated samples showed no rise above 0.2 units, either in the years before diagnosis or during disease progression in 17 patients. The authors concluded that anti-p53 antibodies are uncommon in MM and not a useful diagnostic or prognostic indicator. They noted that the patients' p53 status was not known.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory study measuring anti-p53 antibodies in serum by ELISA (including serial samples over time), with Western blot measurement of p53 protein in cell lines
• Who was studied: 88 MM patients (76 male, 12 female, aged 39 to 81) from respiratory clinics at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia; 25 healthy controls (18 male, 7 female, aged 24 to 74); and a subset of an annually collected serum bank from people exposed to blue asbestos at Wittenoom, used as an age-matched exposed control group and as a source of pre-diagnosis sera
• Exposure: Previous occupational or environmental exposure to blue asbestos in the Wittenoom area of Western Australia (exposed comparison group); the main measurement was serum anti-p53 antibody level
• Main results:
  • 6 of 88 MM patients (7%) had high titres of anti-p53 antibodies, defined as more than 2 standard deviations above the mean of the controls
  • The mean anti-p53 level in the 88 MM patients (0.244, plus or minus 0.23) was not significantly different from that of the healthy controls (mean 0.344, plus or minus 0.25)
  • No correlation between antibody level and survival was shown in MM patients. Survival of the 6 patients with high levels ranged from 3 months to 2.5 years after diagnosis (one patient still alive).
  • In asbestos-exposed people, 3/38 (8%) of sera taken before an MM diagnosis contained antibodies.
  • In asbestos-exposed people who showed no evidence of disease at the time the report was written, 2/40 sera contained antibodies. The article describes this as the same proportion and prints it as 8%, although 2 of 40 is 5%.
  • Of 13 asbestos-exposed individuals with serial sera who went on to develop MM, none showed a change greater than 0.2 units over 3 to 4 years
  • No increase greater than 0.2 units in anti-p53 antibody levels was seen in any of 17 MM patients sampled at various times as their disease progressed
  • All of the human MM cell lines examined over-expressed p53 protein compared with normal blood lymphocytes
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that anti-p53 antibodies occur only at low frequency in the sera of MM patients and do not serve as a useful prognostic or diagnostic indicator in MM
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The p53 status of the patients in the study was not known
  • Sera taken before diagnosis were not available from the 6 MM patients who had anti-p53 antibodies

Mines named here

Asbestos mines this study is about. Each mine's page says who ran it, when it worked, and what it produced.

• Wittenoom, Western Australia

All asbestos mines

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Malignant Mesothelioma, Disease Progression, Crocidolite.

Related studies

• Auto-antibodies to β-F1-ATPase and vimentin in malignant mesothelioma — J. Creaney, I.M. Dick, et al. (2011)
• Gender comparisons in human lung cancer: analysis of p53 mutations, anti-p53 serum antibodies and C-erbB-2 expression — D.G. Guinee, W.D. Travis, et al. (1995)
• p53 protein, EGF receptor, and anti-p53 antibodies in serum from patients with occupationally derived lung cancer — J. Schneider, P. Presek, et al. (1999)
• Autoantibodies from mice exposed to Libby amphibole asbestos bind SSA/Ro52-enriched apoptotic blebs of murine macrophages — D.J. Blake, S.A. Wetzel, et al. (2008)
• Alteration of fibroblast phenotype by asbestos-induced autoantibodies — J.C. Pfau, S. Li, et al. (2011)
• Asbestos-associated mesothelial cell autoantibodies promote collagen deposition in vitro — K.M. Serve, B. Black, et al. (2013)

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