Association of MAGE A1-6 Expression with Lung Cancer Progression

The role of seven tumor-associated autoantibodies in the diagnosis, staging and treatment guidance of lung cancer

BACKGROUND

This study assessed the diagnosis, staging and treatment guidance of lung cancer (LC) based on seven tumor-associated autoantibodies (TAAbs) -p53, PGP9.5, SOX2, GBU4-5, MAGE A1, CAGE, and GAGE7.

METHODS

ELISA was used to determine the TAAb serum levels in 433 patients diagnosed with LC (161 surgical patients) and 76 patients with benign lung disease (16 surgical patients). The statistical characteristic of the TAAbs was compared among patients with different clinicopathological features. Pre- to postoperative changes in TAAb levels were analyzed to determine their value of LC.

RESULTS

Among all patients, the positive rate of the seven TAAbs was 23.4%, sensitivity was 26.3%, accuracy was 36.3%, specificity was 93.4%, positive predictive value was 95.8%, and negative predictive value was 18.2%; the positive rate for the LC group (26.3%) was significantly higher than that for the benign group (6.6%; P < 0.001). Significant differences in the positive rate of the seven autoantibodies according to age (P < 0.001), smoking history (P = 0.009) and clinical LC stage (P < 0.001) were found. Smoking was positively associated with the positive of TAAbs (Τ = 0.118, P = 0.008). The positive rates of the seven TAAbs for squamous carcinoma (54.5%), other pathological types (44.4%) and poorly differentiated LC (57.1%) were significantly higher than those for the other types. The positive rate of GBU4-5 was highest among all TAAbs, and the SOX2 level in stage III-IV patients was much higher than that in other stages. For patients undergoing surgery, compared with the preoperative levels, the postoperative levels of the 7 markers, particularly p53 (P = 0.027), PGP9.5 (P = 0.007), GAGE7 (P = 0.014), and GBU4-5 (P = 0.002), were significantly different in the malignant group, especially in stage I-II patients, while no clear pre- to postoperative difference was observed in the benign group.

CONCLUSIONS

When the seven TAAbs was positive, it was very helpful for the diagnosis of LC. The 7 TAAbs was valuable for staging and guiding treatment of LC in surgical patients.

The MAGE A1-A10 Expression associated with Histopathological Findings of Malignant or Non-Malignant Cells in Peripheral Lung Tumors

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to evaluate the expression of melanoma antigen (MAGE) A from A1 to 10 (A1-10) and the individual MAGE A family in the peripheral lung tumors and to analyze its association with histopathological findings.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 67 samples of peripheral lung tumor obtained by core biopsies from patients with clinical diagnoses such as lung and mediastinal tumors. The specimens were divided into two, one to perform histopathological diagnosis and the last for mRNA MAGE A examination. A Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed using universal primer, MF10/MR10 and MF10/MR12. The collected data were analyzed by appropriate statistical techniques.

RESULT

The histopathological finding showed 41 (61.2 %) of specimens as malignant cells and 26 (38.8 %) of specimens as non-malignant cells. MAGE A1-10 was expressed at 47 (70.1 %) and MAGE A1-6 was expressed at 25 (37.3 %) of specimens. In a malignant cell, MAGE A1-10 and MAGE A1-6 were expressed at 33 (80.5 %) and 19 (46.3 %), respectively. In non-malignant cells, MAGE A1-10 and MAGE A1-6 were expressed at 14 (53.9 %) and 6 (23.1 %,) respectively. The MAGE A1-10 and MAGE A8 expressions were significantly associated with histopathological findings of malignant or non-malignant cells. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of MAGE A1-10 were 80.5 %, 46.2 %, and 67.2 %, respectively; while for MAGE A8 were 41.5 %, 88.5 %, and 59.7 %, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The MAGE A1-10 expression was the most commonly detected and associated with the histopathological finding. Moreover, it was more sensitive and specific and had higher diagnostic accuracy than others. Therefore, the MAGE A1-10 assay may improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of malignancy in peripheral lung tumors.

Virtual Screening and Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship of Moringa oleifera with Melanoma Antigen A (MAGE-A) Genes against the Therapeutics of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers (NSCLCs)

In the last decade, there have been significant advancements in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, including remarkable gains in detection, diagnosis, and therapy. The emergence of molecular targeted therapies, immunotherapeutic inhibitors, and antiangiogenesis medicines has largely fueled improvements in combination therapy and systemic treatments, all of which have dramatically ameliorated patient outcomes. The Moringa oleifera bioactive compounds have been effective in the suppression of cancers, making them the therapeutic agents of choice for the current investigation to treat MAGE-A presented in NSCLC. The ligand entrants were screened for their pharmacological properties, and 2,2-diphenyl-1,3-benzodioxole was stipulated as the lead candidate. 2,2-Diphenyl-1,3-benzodioxole exhibited better pharmacological properties and superior binding with branched-chain amino acids, making it an ideal candidate to address MAGE-A. The study concluded that addressing MAGE-A to impede their activity and antigenicity can be exploited as immunotarget(s).

Efficacy of autoantibodies combined with tumor markers in the detection of lung cancer

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to explore the detection value of seven autoantibodies (TAAbs): p53, PGP9.5, SOX2, GBU4-5, MAGE A1, CAGE, and GAGE7 and three tumor markers: CYFRA21-1, NSE, and SCCA in the diagnosis of lung cancer.

METHODS

ELISA was used to detect the levels of the TAAbs, and chemiluminescence immunoassay was used to test the levels of the tumor markers. The diagnostic efficacy of the TAAbs combined with the tumor markers for lung cancer was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.

RESULTS

The positive rate of the combined detection of seven TAAbs and three tumor markers in lung cancer (37.8%) was higher than that in other three groups. The positive rates of SOX2, GAGE7, MAGE A1, CAGE, CYFRA21-1, and SCCA had differences among the four groups. Compared with the benign lung disease group, only GAGE7, CYFRA21-1, and SCCA differed among the groups. The combined sensitivity of the TAAbs was 29.07% (AUC, 0.594), the combined sensitivity of all the markers was 37.76% (AUC, 0.660 [p < 0.05]), and Youden's index was 0.196. In the lung cancer group, CYFRA21-1 had a significant difference in age and sex, and SOX2, MAGE A1, CYFRA21-1, NSE, and SCCA were significantly different in pathological type and TNM. In contrast, p53 and GBU4-5 showed no significant differences in age, sex, pathological type, and TNM.

CONCLUSIONS

The combined detection of seven TAAbs and three tumor markers could be useful in early diagnosis of lung cancer.

Co-expression of cancer-testis antigens of MAGE-A6 and MAGE-A11 is associated with tumor aggressiveness in patients with bladder cancer

Melanoma antigen gene (MAGE)-A6 and MAGE-A11 are two of the most cancer-testis antigens overexpressed in various types of cancers. However, the clinical and prognosis value of MAGE-A6 and MAGE-A11 co-expression in the pathophysiology of the bladder is unknown. Three studies were selected from GEO databases in order to introduce the common genes that are involved in bladder cancer. Then immunohistochemical analysis for staining pattern and clinicopathological significance of suggested markers, MAGE-A6 and MAGE-A11, were performed in 199 and 213 paraffin-embedded bladder cancer with long adjacent normal tissues, respectively. A significant and positive correlation was found between both nuclear and cytoplasmic expressions of MAGE-A6 as well as expression of cytoplasmic MAGE-A11 with histological grade, PT stage, lamina propria invasion, and LP/ muscularis (L/M) involvement (all of the p-values in terms of H-score were < 0.0001). Additionally, significant differences were found between both nuclear and cytoplasmic MAGE-A6/MAGE-A11 phenotypes with tumor size (P = 0.007, P = 0.043, respectively), different histological grades, PT stage, LP involvement, and L/M involvement (all of the p-values for both phenotypes were < 0.0001). The current study added the value of these novel markers to the bladder cancer clinical settlement that might be considered as an admirable target for immunotherapy.

Overexpression of melanoma-associated antigen A2 has a clinical significance in embryonal carcinoma and is associated with tumor progression

INTRODUCTION

Melanoma-associated antigen A2 (MAGE-A2) is a member of the cancer-testis antigen family differentially overexpressed in a variety of malignancies and is associated with tumor development. However, clinical significance and prognostic value of MAGE-A2 in different histological subtypes of testicular germ cell tumors (TGCTs) have not been explored.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Here, we aimed to investigate the clinical significance and prognostic impact of MAGE-A2 expression in TGCTs compared to benign tumors as well as adjacent normal tissues and then between seminomas and non-seminomas groups using immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays.

RESULTS

The results indicated a statistically significant difference between overexpression of MAGE-A2 and histological subtypes of TGCTs. A statistically significant association was found between a high level of nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 protein and advanced pT stage (P = 0.022), vascular invasion (P = 0.037), as well as involvement of rete testis (P = 0.022) in embryonal carcinomas. Increased nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 was observed to be associated with more aggressive behaviors and tumor progression rather than cytoplasmic expression in these cases. Further, high level nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 had shorter disease-specific survival (DSS) or progression-free survival (PFS) compared to patients with moderate and low expression of MAGE-A2, however, without a statistically significant association.

CONCLUSION

Our results confirm that increased nuclear expression of MAGE-A2 has a clinical significance in embryonal carcinomas and is associated with progression of disease. Moreover, MAGE-A2 may act as a potential predictive biomarker for the prognosis in embryonal carcinomas if follow-up period becomes longer. Further investigations for the biological function of MAGE-A2 are required in future studies.

Co-stimulatory and co-inhibitory immune markers in solid tumors with MET alterations

The implication of MET alterations in solid tumors and the immune microenvironment remains elusive. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of 21 patients with solid tumors harboring MET alterations were used for immunohistochemical staining. Extracted RNA was analyzed with the NanoString nCounter human PanCancer immune profiling panel (NanoString Technologies, Inc., WA, USA). Patients were diagnosed with lung (n = 10), breast (n = 5), genitourinary (n = 3) or colorectal cancer (n = 3). Eleven had a MET missense mutation, four had an exon 14 splice site mutation and six had MET amplification. CD6, CCL19, CD40LG, XCR1, MAGEA1, ATM and CCL19 genes were significantly differentially expressed in MET-altered cancers. MET alterations may have a role in various solid tumors as potential therapeutic targets and combination therapy candidates with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

MET is a receptor for growth signals that keeps cells alive and healthy. However, some tumors have changes in MET that allow for uncontrollable cell growth. Patients with MET-altered tumors may benefit from treatments targeting this gene, but eventually they become resistant to the treatments. Thus, there is a need to identify additional therapies for this patient population. The authors tested immune gene expression in tumors with MET alterations to determine if these patients would benefit from a new class of treatments called immunotherapies and found that patients with and without MET changes had differences in immune gene expression.

A new tool for early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis using combined biomarkers; synovial MAGE-1 mRNA and serum anti-CCP and RF

Introduction

rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease with unknown etiology and pathogenesis. Biomarkers have the potential to aid in the clinical diagnosis of the disease, or to provide means of detecting early signs of the disease. Evaluating Melanoma associated antigen genes (MAGE-1) mRNA expression rate in synovial fluid cells and serum levels of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) for RA early diagnosis.

Methods

a total of 213 subjects were enrolled in the study, 135 RA patients and 78 normal subjects with traumatic knee joints (control group). Serum RF and anti-CCP were estimated quantitatively using ELISA. MAGE-1 mRNA expression rate was analyzed by RT-PCR.

Results

a significant increase in serum levels of RF IgM and anti-CCP in RA patients compared to the controls. A positively significant correlation was found between serum anti-CCP and RF IgM. The expression rate of MAGE-1 mRNA was 100% in RA patients versus the controls (0%). The specificity and the sensitivity of the three biomarkers was 100%.

Conclusion

the high expression rate of MAGE-1 in synovial fluid cells of RA patients is encouraging its utilization as a diagnostic biomarker for RA. The combined use of MAGE-1 transcript in synovial fluid cells, serum RF and anti-CCP is recommended for improving early diagnostic ability of RA.

The association of melanoma-associated antigen-A gene expression with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in resected non-small-cell lung cancer: a meta-analysis

Our goal was to explore the association of melanoma-associated antigen-A (MAGE-A) gene expression with clinicopathological parameters and survival rates in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had surgery. A systematic search of EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library databases was performed through 20 April 2019. The combined risk ratios (RRs) and hazard ratios (HRs) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to assess the association of MAGE-A gene expression with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with resected NSCLC, respectively. All statistical analyses were performed with Stata software, version 12.0. A total of 9 articles involving 1538 patients were included in our meta-analysis; most of the studies were from Asian countries. The results indicated that the expression of the MAGE-A gene was significantly correlated with lymph node metastases (RR 1.21, 95% CI 1.09-1.34; P = 0.001), high tumour-node-metastasis stage (RR 1.24, 95% CI 1.12-1.38; P < 0.001), histological type (squamous cell carcinoma) (RR 1.82, 95% CI 1.15-2.87; P = 0.01), poor overall survival (HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.73-2.57; P < 0.001) and cancer-specific survival (HR 1.76, 95% CI 1.12-2.78; P = 0.015). MAGE-A gene expression is related to tumour development and metastasis and is more prevalent in squamous cell carcinomas of the lung; besides, it is an independent prognostic factor for patients with resected NSCLC.

MAGE-A1 in lung adenocarcinoma as a promising target of chimeric antigen receptor T cells

Background

Cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) are a special type of tumor antigen and are believed to act as potential targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Methods

In this study, we first screened a rational CTA MAGE-A1 for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and explored the detailed characteristics of MAGE-A1 in LUAD development through a series of phenotypic experiments. Then, we developed a novel MAGE-A1-CAR-T cell (mCART) using lentiviral vector based on our previous MAGE-A1-scFv. The anti-tumor effects of this mCART were finally investigated in vitro and in vivo.

Results

The results showed striking malignant behaviors of MAGE-A1 in LUAD development, which further validated the rationality of MAGE-A1 as an appropriate target for LUAD treatment. Then, the innovative mCART was successfully constructed, and mCART displayed encouraging tumor-inhibitory efficacy in LUAD cells and xenografts.

Conclusions

Taken together, our data suggest that MAGE-A1 is a promising candidate marker for LUAD therapy and the MAGE-A1-specific CAR-T cell immunotherapy may be an effective strategy for the treatment of MAGE-A1-positive LUAD.