Avaliação da pesquisa de autoanticorpos em células Hep-2 como biomarcador em neoplasias hepáticas, pancreáticas e biliares

Some studies demonstrate that patients with different types of tumor may have detectable autoantibodies in the circulation before the symptomatic form of the disease begins. Our objective was to investigate the presence of these autoantibodies, directed against cellular antigens using indirect immunofluorescence with HEp-2 cells (ANA-HEp2). To this end, we studied 75 newly diagnosed patients with liver, pancreatic and biliary neoplasms and 40 patients as a healthy control group. According to the immunofluorescence tests performed, in the sick group, 44 (58.66%) were positive for ANA in titers of 1:80 or higher, while the healthy group was positive in 7.5% of cases. We observed that the frequency of positivity was higher in patients with liver-biliary tumor (100%) compared to patients with pancreatic cancer (41.5%). The most frequent immunofluorescence patterns were the dense fine speckled nuclear and the thick speckled nuclear. We were also able to associate the presence of these antibodies with tumor markers CA19.9 and CA125. The levels of these markers were increased when the ANA was negative. According to our results, autoantibodies were more prevalent in the serum of cancer patients, compared to the control group, but further studies on the nature and biological effects of these molecules are still needed to better understand the technique in this group of patients, the which will impact the understanding of the mechanisms of immunity in cancer as well as the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease.