Autoantibodies and Biomarker Discovery

There is growing evidence for the contribution of immune pathogenesis to many systemic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and neurologic disorders. To understand the functional consequences of immune dysregulation, biomarkers are needed that detect subtle antigen-specific changes within the normal variation of immune responses. Recent advances in proteomic methodologies have resulted in accurate measurements of antigen-specific autoantibodies. These autoantibodies target self-antigens due to abnormalities in protein expression or structure that are associated with disease. Antibodies have been detected using diverse methods of antigen display, including phage display, multidimensional cell fractionation, protein arrays, and peptide and peptoid arrays. Next-generation sequencing of cDNA from disease tissue is providing an even broader source of potential autoantigens due to mutations and splice variation. In addition to their use for clinical diagnostics, the breadth and the specificity of the immune response provides insight into the role of immune regulation in the pathogenesis of these diseases.