The aim of this study was to investigate the serum HuD concentration in SCLC patients and the possibility of its utilization as a biomarker of small cell lung cancer.
Specifically, the N-terminal region of ELAVL4, previously implicated in SCLC-associated autoimmunity, undergoes isoaspartylation in vitro, is recognized by sera from anti-ELAVL4 positive SCLC patients and is highly immunogenic in subcutaneously injected mice and in vitro stimulated human lymphocytes.
Anti-Hu syndrome is a paraneoplastic neurologic disease seemingly associated with an efficient antitumoral immune response against HuD protein expressed by both small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and neurons.
These results revealed that no aberrant alternative splicing occurred in SCLCnot associated with PEM/PSN and the expression of HuD gene was not specific for a particular histologic subtype of human lung cancer.
These results show that the HuD gene is not mutated in lung cancer, including tumors from patients producing anti-HuD antibodies, but HuD expression is an independent marker or determinant of the neuroendocrine differentiation seen in SCLC.