title: Combined cancer testis antigens enhanced prediction accuracy for prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
abstract: Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are selectively expressed in malignant cells and can serve as ideal targets for immunotherapy. We investigated the expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-C2 and NY-ESO-1 to determine if combinatorial expressions of CTAs might be as potential prognostic markers for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In tumor tissues of 142 HCC patients, the mRNA expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-C2 and NY-ESO-1 were 78.9%, 33.8%, 74.6% and 14.1% respectively. Furthermore, the expressions of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4 and combination of MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 (CTAs-A3/A4/NY) showed positive correlations with serum AFP, tumor stages and Ki-67 (P < 0.05). In addition, mRNA expressions of CTAs were significantly consistent with protein expressions of CTAs by immunohistochemistry (P > 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) analysis showed that CTAs-A3/A4/NY had larger areas under ROC curve (0.768), specificity (99.1%), Youden's index (44.6), positive predictive value (90.9%) and negative predictive value (89.9%) for predicting HCC recurrence than other CTAs. Moreover, the combinatorial expression of CTAs-A3/A4/NY was significantly associated with HCC recurrence by Kaplan-Meier analysis (HR = 69.36, P < 0.01) and multivariate Cox analysis (RR = 17.11, P < 0.01). The combinatorial expression of CTAs-A3/A4/NY mRNA promotes the predictive accuracy of HCC recurrence and itself may be a potential target for immunotherapy of HCC as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China ; Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Jiansheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xinfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Dongli
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ping
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xiaojuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Tengfei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Yongfu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Xiuxian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Dexu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Zhengjun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Longshuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China.
authors.forename: Wenlong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology/Oncology, School of Medicine, Northwestern University Chicago 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biotherapy Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China ; Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China ; School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou 450052, Henan, China ; Engineering Key Laboratory for Cell Therapy of Henan Province Zhengzhou, Henan, 450052, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012372:ROC Curve; D013736:Testicular Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D013737:Testis / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor
keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma; cancer testis antigen; marker; prognosis