title: Analysis of cancer/testis antigens in sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma: expression and humoral response to NY-ESO-1.
abstract: Cancer/testis antigens (CTA) are tumor-associated antigens expressed during ontogenesis, in a number of solid tumors but not in normal tissues except testis. Most of these CTA are highly immunogenic, eliciting a humoral and cellular response in the patients with advanced cancer, and are useful for tumor-specific immunotherapy. Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a neoplasm derived from the parafollicular cells of the thyroid and occurs in either a sporadic or a familial form. In the present study, we examined by RT-PCR the expression of a number of genes encoding CTA in 23 surgical samples of sporadic MTC. Among the 11 cDNA antigens examined, RAGE, MAGE-4, and GAGE 1-2, were not expressed in any of the tissues. SSX 2 was present only in one tissue, whereas BAGE, GAGE 1-6, MAGE-1, MAGE-2, MAGE-3, and SSX 1-5 were detected in two to five samples. NY-ESO-1 cDNA was the most frequent, being detected in 15 of 23 examined samples (65.2%). Six (26.1%) tissues did not express any CTA-specific mRNA, whereas 10 tumors expressed only one gene (43.5%), 3 (21.4%) expressed 2 genes, and 4 displayed a broad CTA gene expression. NY-ESO-1 expression in primary MTC tissues significantly correlated with tumor recurrence. The presence of specific anti-NY-ESO-1 antibodies was searched in the sera of MTC-affected patients examined by ELISA using recombinant NY-ESO-1 protein. A humoral response against this CTA was detected in 6 of 11 NY-ESO-1 expressing patients (54.5%), and in 1 of 6 patients with NY-ESO-1-negative tumor. No anti-NY-ESO-1 antibodies were detected in healthy subjects (n = 17). The presence of anti-NY-ESO-1 antibodies was searched also in the sera of MTC affected patients whose tissues were not available for CTA analysis. Anti-NY-ESO-1 antibodies were present in 15 of 42 sera (35.7%), demonstrating that MTC is a neoplasm frequently associated with humoral immune response to NY-ESO-1. Serological survey may be useful as a way to identify patients with humoral immune response to NY-ESO-1 that provide a new attractive target for vaccine-based immunotherapy of MTC.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Bioimmunotherapy Unit, Department of Medical Oncology, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico, Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, 33081 Aviano, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maio
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Coral
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sigalotti
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Elisei
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romei
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cortini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Colizzi
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fenzi
authors.forename: Maresa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altomonte
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinchera
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vitale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; C104948:CTAG1B protein, human; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C416649:Ret protein, Drosophila