title: Expression of MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 in Primary and Metastatic Cancers.
abstract: Melanoma-associated antigen-A (MAGE-A) and New York esophageal squamous cell cancer-1 (NY-ESO-1) are 2 cancer testis antigens (CTA) demonstrating potential for use in targeted immunotherapy. Clinical trials in melanoma and synovial sarcomas targeting these antigens in immune-based therapies have demonstrated durable tumor regression. Although protein expression of NY-ESO-1 has been assessed in a variety of cancer types, the expression of MAGE-A has not been studied in depth. In this study we analyzed MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 expression in 314 melanoma specimens from 301 melanoma patients, 38 patients with squamous cell cancers and 111 patients with adenocarcinomas. Our results demonstrated higher expression of MAGE-A compared with NY-ESO-1 in melanomas (32% vs. 13%) and squamous cell carcinomas (45% vs. 7.9%), and higher expression of both CTAs in metastatic versus primary tumors. CTA expression in adenocarcinomas was low (MAGE-A: 10%, NY-ESO-1: 0.9%). In addition, we looked at concordance of expression among metastatic melanoma lesions within the same patient and found concordant expression in 38 of 47 patients for MAGE-A and 43 of 47 patients for NY-ESO-1. Our study demonstrated that the MAGE-A family may be of greater utility than NY-ESO-1 for targeted immunotherapy in a variety of cancer histologies, in particular metastatic melanomas and squamous cell carcinomas.
authors.affiliation: *Surgery Branch †Laboratory of Pathology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Tristen S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Eric M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Groh
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: Sid P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Kerkar
authors.forename: Chyi-Chia Richard
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C104948:CTAG1B protein, human; D008565:Membrane Proteins