Expression of Melanoma Antigen-Encoding Genes (MAGE) by Common Primers for MAGE-A1 to -A6 in Colorectal Carcinomas Among Koreans

Abstract

This study was to investigate Melanoma-antigen gene (MAGE) expression by reverse transcription-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-nested PCR) with the original common primers of MAGE-A1 to -A6 and analysis of correlation between its expression and the well-known clinical parameters in addition to evaluate the clinical feasibility of the common primers. Surgical tumor and corresponding nonneoplastic tissue samples from 38 patients with colorectal cancer were studied. To confirm the identities of RT-PCR products, direct sequencing was done after in vitro subcloning. No expression of MAGE was observed in the non-neoplastic colorectal mucosal tissues. Sixteen (42.1%) of 38 carcinomas expressed at least one of MAGE A-1 to -6. The expression of the MAGE genes was not related to age, sex, histological grades, the depth of invasion, metastasis to lymph nodes, vessel, neural, or perineural invasion. The identities with the corresponding mRNAs were confirmed in 6 cases for MAGE-A2 (15.8%), 6 cases for MAGE-A4 (15.8%), 2 cases for MAGE-A3 (5.3%), and one case for MAGE A-6 (2.6%). These results suggest that MAGE expressions, except those of MAGE-A2 and -A4, seem to have a limited role in the molecular pathogenesis of colon cancer. However, the common primer sets to detect of expressions for MAGE-A1 to -A6 simultaneously appear to be feasible to differentiate malignant from benign lesions in colorectal diseases.

Melanoma associated antigen (MAGE)-A3 expression in Stages I and II non-small cell lung cancer: results of a multi-center study

“…Recently, also RT-PCR approaches have been applied for the investigation of MAGE-A3 expression, however in a limited number of NSCLC [13]. They revealed a MAGE-A3 expression in five out of 12 (41.7%) NSCLC [12]. The reported RT-PCR method was performed reliably and the observed rate of MAGE-A3 expression was comparable to the rate of 30-50% in the present study.…”

“…Previous studies investigating the rate of MAGE-A3 expression in NSCLC were only performed in a few patients with early-stage NSCLC [12,13], and thus were of limited value for planning an anti-MAGE-A3 immunotherapy trial. Therefore, the present multi-center study was initiated to determine the rate of MAGE-A3 expression in a large population of Stages I and II NSCLC patients.…”

Expression of melanoma‐associated antigens in oral squamous cell carcinoma

“…However, the results displayed that MAGE‐A12 expression can increase the sensitivity of malignant cell detection by about 14.45% (85.45–71%). Therefore, it can be claimed that the detection of OSCC by seven antigens is more sensitive, and the ability to detect individual cancer cells or identify targets for immunotherapy may get markedly better, indicating that detection of multiple MAGE‐A gene expression using MAGE‐A assay (13) may overcome the tumor heterogeneity of individual cancer type and enhance the sensitivity for the discovery of neoplastic cells (24).…”

Clinical Benefit of Allogeneic Melanoma Cell Lysate–Pulsed Autologous Dendritic Cell Vaccine in MAGE-Positive Colorectal Cancer Patients

“…MAGE gene expression in colorectal cancer is reported at 42.1% in Asians (11). This MCL also contains other recently identified antigens (Supplementary Table S1), potentially maximizing antitumor immunity in this MAGE-enriched patient population.…”