Expression of cancer-testis antigens in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To investigate the expression of cancer-testis (CT) antigens MAGE-1, SSX-1, CTp11 and HCA587 genes in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the possibility of applying these antigens as targets for specific immunotherapy for HCC. METHODS: Expression levels of MAGE-1, SSX-1, CTp11 and HCA587 mRNA were detected with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in HCC tissues and corresponding adjacent non-cancerous tissues from 105 HCC patients, 40 samples of cirrhosis and normal liver tissues. Genes of five samples with positive PCR results were sequenced. RESULTS: Of 105 HCC tissues, MAGE1, SSX-1, CTp11 and HCA587 mRNA expressions were detectable in 75.2%(79/105), 72.4%(76/105), 62.9%(66/105) and 56.2%(59/105) of HCC samples, respectively. About 93.3%(98/105), 72.4%(76/105), 48.6%(51/105) and 37.1%(39/105) of HCC tissues positively expressed at least one, two, three, and four members of CT antigens, respectively. Conversely, only SSX-1 could be detectable in 2.9%(3/105) of the corresponding adjacent non-HCC tissues in which no metastatic lesion was found. Of the latter 3 patients, biopsy samples far from tumor were obtained in 2 patients and RT-PCR indicated no expression of SSX-1 mRNA in these two samples. In addition, none of 40 samples of cirrhotic and normal liver tissues expressed CT antigen gene mRNA. DNA sequences confirmed that the RT-PCR products were true target cDNA. No relationship was found between expression of CT antigens and clinico pathological indicators such as age, gender, tumor size, degree of tumor differentiation, serum alpha-fetoprotein level and infection of hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: CT antigens genes (MAGE-1, SSX-1, CTp11 and HCA587) are expressed with high percentage and specificity in HCC and their products are promising targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy of HCC. High frequent co-expression of multiple members of CT antigens in HCC provides possibility of polyvalent vaccinations for HCC.