Review
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World J Clin Oncol. Jun 10, 2011; 2(6): 245-261
Published online Jun 10, 2011. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v2.i6.245
Potential of soluble CD26 as a serum marker for colorectal cancer detection
Oscar J Cordero, Monica Imbernon, Loretta De Chiara, Vicenta S Martinez-Zorzano, Daniel Ayude, Maria Paez de la Cadena, F Javier Rodriguez-Berrocal
Oscar J Cordero, Monica Imbernon, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Santiago de Compostela, School of Biology, CIBUS Building, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Loretta De Chiara, Vicenta S Martinez-Zorzano, Daniel Ayude, Maria Paez de la Cadena, F Javier Rodriguez-Berrocal, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, University of Vigo, School of Biology, As Lagoas-Marcosende s/n, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Author contributions: Paez de la Cadena M and Rodriguez-Berrocal FJ designed the research; Cordero OJ, Imbernon M, De Chiara L, and Ayude D performed the research; Cordero OJ, De Chiara L, Martinez-Zorzano VS, Ayude D and Paez de la Cadena M analyzed the data; and Cordero OJ, Imbernon M, De Chiara L, Martinez-Zorzano VS Paez de la Cadena M and Rodriguez-Berrocal FJ wrote the paper.
Supported by (in part) A grant from Xunta de Galicia (10 PXIB 310 215 PR) and FEDER founding
Correspondence to: Dr. Oscar J Cordero, Departamento de Bioquímica e Bioloxía Molecular; Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Bioloxía; CIBUS, Campus Vida, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. oscarj.cordero@usc.es
Telephone: +34-8818-16935 Fax: +34-981-596904
Received: January 21, 2011
Revised: March 28, 2011
Accepted: April 5, 2011
Published online: June 10, 2011
Abstract

Colorectal cancer is characterized by a low survival rate even though the basis for colon cancer development, which involves the evolution of adenomas to carcinoma, is known. Moreover, the mortality rates continue to rise in economically transitioning countries although there is the opportunity to intervene in the natural history of the adenoma–cancer sequence through risk factors, screening, and treatment. Screening in particular accounted for most of the decline in colorectal cancer mortality achieved in the USA during the period 1975-2000. Patients show a better prognosis when the neoplasm is diagnosed early. Among the variety of screening strategies, the methods range from invasive and costly procedures such as colonoscopy to more low-cost and non-invasive tests such as the fecal occult blood test (guaiac and immunochemical). As a non-invasive biological serum marker would be of great benefit because of the performance of the test, several biomarkers, including cytologic assays, DNA and mRNA, and soluble proteins, have been studied. We found that the soluble CD26 (sCD26) concentration is diminished in serum of colorectal cancer patients compared to healthy donors, suggesting the potential utility of a sCD26 immunochemical detection test for early diagnosis. sCD26 originates from plasma membrane CD26 lacking its transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. Some 90%–95% of sCD26 has been associated with serum dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) activity. DPP-IV, assigned to the CD26 cluster, is a pleiotropic enzyme expressed mainly on epithelial cells and lymphocytes. Our studies intended to validate this test for population screening to detect colorectal cancer and advanced adenomas are reviewed here.

Keywords: Antibody arrays; Bioinformatics; Biomarkers; cancer; Clustering; Cytometric beads; Diagnosis; Dipeptidyl peptidase IV; Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay; Prognosis; Review; Soluble CD26; Screening; Serum