A Concise Review of Autoantibodies to Tumor-Associated Antigens for Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

ABSTRACT

Ultrasonography and tests for alpha-fetoprotein are recommended as routine surveillance tools for the early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, ultrasonography is highly operator dependent and alpha-fetoprotein assays do not yield satisfactory results in diagnosing early stage HCC. Therefore, the development of more sensitive and specific tools for early HCC detection is necessary. Recent studies have shown that tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) elicited by cellular and/or humoral effectors of the immune system are attractive targets for development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools for human cancers including HCC. Most importantly, autoantibodies to TAAs can be detected prior to a clinical diagnosis of HCC. This review focuses on the important features of TAAs and the possible use of autoantibodies to TAAs as biomarkers for early HCC detection.