Testicular Cancer Has An Autoimmune Disease Following Its Path

Researchers from Mayo Clinic, Chan Zuckerberg (CZ) Biohub, San Francisco (UCSF), and University of California are treating an autoimmune disease, testicular cancer-associated paraneoplastic encephalitis using advanced technology has it is known to have an effect on testicular cancer patients and also cause severe brain-related symptoms. In this disease, men lose control of their eye movements, limbs, and even speech. The testicular tumor triggers the autoimmune disease and causes the immune system to combat the brain. The men are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed and correct treatment is postponed. The screening of a specific biomarker using programmable phage display technology was carried out.

The refined technology helped screen more than 700,000 autoantibody targets from all the proteins present in the human body. The influential tool helped find autoantibodies targeting Kelch-like protein 11 (KLHL11) that plays an important role in the parts of the brain and testes. The protein biomarker as a diagnostic test could help diagnose men with testicular cancer-associated paraneoplastic encephalitis. The Mayo Clinic’s Neuroimmunology Laboratory has Mayo Clinic’s biobank that is the largest repository of biospecimens in the world. The UCSF and CZ Biohub and Mayo Clinic work together to discover biomarkers.

The autoimmune neurological disease is a pool of antibodies that glue to tissue using a specific pattern of staining. The staining pattern was invented 20 Years back and it is a shining star like a phenomenon that helps identify biomarkers. The sparkles pattern helped spot many ataxia and testicular cancers but finding an autoantibody target still remained a mystery. The new technology used phage technology to identify KLHL11 in testicular cancer. The American Urological Association (AUA) has provided a new guideline on the diagnosis and treatment of early-stage testicular cancer. Around 250,000 men in the US have testicular cancer and the guidelines urge conducting a scrotal ultrasound and collecting serum tumor markers for initial diagnosis purpose and radical, inguinal orchiectomy for testicular cancer patients. The role of testis-sparing surgery (TSS) is no more recommended and the ones who have undergone it must perform further therapies. The guideline is hoped to reduce the number affected.