Correlation between the high expression levels of cancer-germline genes with clinical characteristics in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

• Xinfeng Chen ^[1] ; Liping Wang ^[1] ; Dongli Yue ^[1] ; Jinyan Liu ^[1] ; Lan Huang ^[1] ; Li Yang ^[1] ; Ling Cao ^[1] ; Guohui Qin ^[1] ; Anqi Li ^[1] ; Dan Wang ^[1] ; Meng Wang ^[1] ; Yu Qi ^[1] ; Bin Zhang ^[2] ; Pierre van der Bruggen ^[3] ; Yi Zhang ^[1]
  1. [1] Zhengzhou University

     Zhengzhou University

     China

     
  2. [2] Northwestern University

     Northwestern University

     Township of Evanston, Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] Université Catholique de Louvain

     Université Catholique de Louvain

     Arrondissement de Nivelles, Bélgica

     

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• Localización: Histology and histopathology: cellular and molecular biology, ISSN-e 1699-5848, ISSN 0213-3911, Vol. 32, Nº. 8, 2017, págs. 793-803
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Antigens encoded by cancer-germline genes are attractive targets for cancer immunotherapy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the mRNA expression of cancer-germline genes, expression of the encoded proteins in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and their correlations with clinical characteristics. In addition, the effects of downregulation cancer-germline genes on ESCC cells were assessed in vitro. Our results showed that cancer-germline genes were frequently expressed in ESCC samples. The positive rates of in ESCC samples were: 87% of MAGE-A3, 60% of MAGE-A4, 65% of MAGE-C2, and 20% of NY-ESO-1 at mRNA level. MAGE-A3 expression was associated with age, lymph node metastasis and tumor stage (all P<0.05), while MAGE-C2 expression was only associated with tumor stage (P<0.05). Furthermore, the MAGE-A3 expressing patients had a poorer overall survival (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis identified MAGE-A3 as an independent poor prognostic marker in ESCC. In vitro assay, ESCC cell lines treated with specific siRNAs to down-regulate MAGE-A3 and MAGE-C2 resulted in decreased colony-formation and migration ability (P<0.05). Epithelial marker E-cadherin was up-regulated in siRNA-MAGE-A3/C2 cells compared to controls, whereas mesenchymal markers Vimentin, N-cadherin and Slug were downregulated (all P<0.05), suggesting a role for MAGE-A3/C2 in ESCC metastasis through inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The present study revealed that cancer-germline genes and their encoded proteins were frequently expressed in ESCC tumor samples and were related to poor prognosis. Thus, cancer-germline genes may serve as useful biomarkers and potential targets for ESCC patients