Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in China. The aims of this research were to increase the sensitivity of anti-p53 antibody detection in the sera of patients with colorectal cancer and to assist in their diagnosis.
Methods: Sixty-seven non-selected Chinese with colorectal cancer were involved in this study. Anti-p53 antibodies in serum were detected by ELISA using recombinant human wild- type p53 protein and hybrid phage as the coating antigen. Correlations between the anti-p53 antibodies and clinicopathological parameters were also analyzed.
Results: The detection efficiency of anti-p53 antibodies in the patients with colorectal cancer was increased (46.3%, 31/67) through the combination of the two ELISA methods compared with each method alone. The titer of serum anti-p53 antibodies was not associated with clinicopathological parameters, but there was a significant correlation between their presence, the CEA level, and the stage of the patient's colorectal cancer.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that combination of the two ELISA methods increased the detection rate of anti-p53 antibodies in patients with colorectal cancer. This research may provide a useful method to complement conventional clinical diagnosis.