Membrane Protein ATP1A1 as a Specific Target for Diagnosis of Lung Cancer

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, due to lack of early diagnosis and effective treatment. Majority of lung cancer patients find out their symptoms in the later cancer stages, making it too late for treatment. By this reason, developing an early diagnostic method for lung cancer is essential and holds a great promise in treating lung cancer effectively. We thought that targeting membrane protein that shows specificity to lung cancer is the key to diagnosis lung cancer effectively. In our previous research ATPase Na+/K+ Transporting Subunit Alpha 1 (ATP1A1) became a candidate for a possible biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of human lung cancer. In this experiment, we verified the possibility of ATP1A1 as a potential target of human lung cancer and examined the anti-tumor effect of anti-ATP1A1 to the human lung cancer cells. Additionally, we have tried to develop a diagnostic method using exosomes, which are secreted from all types of cells, derived from cell culture media, lung cancer xenograft mouse model serum, and human patient serum. The presence of exosomes in the samples were identified by western blot analysis and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Our results show that ATP1A1 in the exosome is detectable and is specific to the lung cancers. As a result, we insist that ATP1A1 is a potential biomarker for lung cancer and can be used for antibody-based diagnostics. Moreover, we show the possibility of antibody-based diagnostic method using membrane protein ATP1A1 in the exosomes to diagnosis lung cancer effectively.