Development of an ELISA detecting Tumor Protein 53-Induced Nuclear Protein 1 in serum of prostate cancer patients

•TP53INP1 is a key stress-response protein over-expressed in prostate cancer.•We have developed a new ELISA detecting TP53INP1 in serum of prostate cancer patients.•This ELISA will be a powerful tool in investigating value of TP53INP1 as a new biomarker in diagnostic and therapy.

Tumor Protein 53-Induced Nuclear Protein 1 (TP53INP1) plays an important role during cell stress response in synergy with the potent “genome-keeper” p53. In human, the gene encoding TP53INP1 is expressed at very high level in some pathological situations, such as inflammation and prostate cancer (PC). TP53INP1 overexpression in PC seems to be a worse prognostic factor, particularly predictive of biological cancer relapse, making TP53INP1 a relevant specific target for molecular therapy of Castration Resistant (CR) PC. In that context, detection of TP53INP1 in patient biological fluids is a promising diagnostic avenue. We report here successful development of a new Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) detecting TP53INP1, taking advantage of molecular tools (monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and recombinant proteins) generated in the laboratory during the course of basic functional investigations devoted to TP53INP1. The ELISA principle is based on a sandwich immunoenzymatic system, TP53INP1 protein being trapped by a first specific mAb coated on microplate then recognized by a second specific mAb. This new assay allows specific detection of TP53INP1 in serum of several PC patients. This breakthrough paves the way towards investigation of a large cohort of patients and assessment of clinical applications of TP53INP1 dosage.