title: Aberrant expression of melanoma-associated antigen-D2 serves as a prognostic indicator of hepatocellular carcinoma outcome following curative hepatectomy.
abstract: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Since the prognosis of advanced HCC patients is extremely poor, the development of novel molecular targets for diagnosis and therapy is urgently required. In the present study, the expression of the melanoma-associated antigen-D2 (MAGE-D2) gene was investigated to determine whether it affects the malignant phenotype of HCC and thus, may serve as a marker of prognosis. Therefore, the expression ofMAGE-D2mRNA and MAGE-D2 protein in nine HCC cell lines and 151 pairs of surgical tissues was analyzed. mRNA expression levels were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry was used to compare the clinicopathological parameters of the tumors. A significant difference in the level ofMAGE-D2expression was observed between the normal liver and chronic hepatitis tissues, however, no significant differences were identified among the levels of the chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC tissues. The expression patterns of the MAGE-D2 protein were consistent with those of its mRNA. The expression levels ofMAGE-D2mRNA in 66 of 151 (44%) patients were higher in the HCC tissues compared with the corresponding non-cancerous tissues. In addition, the disease-specific survival time was significantly shorter for patients with higher levels ofMAGE-D2mRNA expression. Multivariate analysis identified increased expression ofMAGE-D2mRNA as an independent prognostic factor for disease-specific survival (hazard ratio, 2.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.43-4.98; P=0.002). However, increased expression levels ofMAGE-D2mRNA were not significantly associated with other clinicopathological parameters, including extrahepatic recurrence. These results indicated thatMAGE-D2mRNA affects tumor progression and may serve as a prognostic indicator following curative resection. In addition, MAGE-D2 may provide a target for the therapy of HCC.
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Ryoji
authors: R
authors: Hashimoto
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Mitsuro
authors: M
authors: Kanda
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Hideki
authors: H
authors: Takami
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Dai
authors: D
authors: Shimizu
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Hisaharu
authors: H
authors: Oya
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Soki
authors: S
authors: Hibino
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Yukiyasu
authors: Y
authors: Okamura
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Suguru
authors: S
authors: Yamada
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Tsutomu
authors: T
authors: Fujii
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Goro
authors: G
authors: Nakayama
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Sugimoto
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Masahiko
authors: M
authors: Koike
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Shuji
authors: S
authors: Nomoto
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Michitaka
authors: M
authors: Fujiwara
authors: Department of Gastroenterological Surgery (Surgery II), Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8550, Japan.
authors: Yasuhiro
authors: Y
authors: Kodera
keywords: expression; hepatocellular carcinoma; melanoma-associated antigen-D2; prognosis