The aim of this study was to explore the potential value of autoantibody to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in the diagnosis of lung cancer (LC) and its relation with EGFR mutations. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to detect the level of autoantibody to EGFR in sera from 254 LC patients and 222 normal controls (NCs). Besides, the mRNA and protein levels of EGFR were investigated in Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database, respectively. The level of autoantibody to EGFR (anti-EGFR) in LC even different types of LC was obviously higher than that in NC (P < 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of anti-EGFR was 0.695 (95% CI 0.645–0.742) when comparing LC patients with NC, while the AUC of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was 0.681 (95% CI 0.629–0.730). Moreover, by integrating anti-EGFR with CEA to diagnose LC, the AUC was up to 0.784 (95% CI 0.737–0.826). However, the expression level of autoantibody to EGFR had no difference between LC patients with and without EGFR gene mutation (P > 0.05). EGFR mRNA expression level was obviously upregulated in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) tissues compared with normal tissues (P < 0.05), but not in adenocarcinoma (ADC) (P > 0.05). The study confirmed that anti-EGFR could be a potential biomarker for LC diagnosis; additionally, it could improve the diagnostic value of CEA in clinical work.

本研究旨在探讨表皮生长因子受体（EGFR）自身抗体在肺癌（LC）诊断中的潜在价值及其与EGFR突变的关系。使用酶联免疫吸附试验 (ELISA) 检测 254 名 LC 患者和 222 名正常对照 (NC) 血清中针对 EGFR 的自身抗体水平。此外，分别在基因表达谱交互分析（GEPIA）和人类蛋白质图谱（HPA）数据库中研究了EGFR的mRNA和蛋白质水平。LC甚至不同类型LC的EGFR自身抗体（anti-EGFR）水平均明显高于NC（P< 0.05)。当比较 LC 患者与 NC 时，抗 EGFR 的曲线下面积 (AUC) 为 0.695 (95% CI 0.645–0.742)，而癌胚抗原 (CEA) 的 AUC 为 0.681 (95% CI 0.629–0.730)。此外，通过将抗 EGFR 与 CEA 结合用于诊断 LC，AUC 高达 0.784（95% CI 0.737–0.826）。但EGFR基因突变与无EGFR基因突变的LC患者EGFR自身抗体表达水平无差异（P > 0.05）。与正常组织相比，鳞状细胞癌（SCC）组织中EGFR mRNA表达水平明显上调（P < 0.05），但在腺癌（ ADC ）中不表达（P> 0.05）。该研究证实抗EGFR可能是LC诊断的潜在生物标志物；此外，它可以提高CEA在临床工作中的诊断价值。