Expression of cancer/testis antigenª²related genes in human bladder cancer

    YAN Hongª²Liang, WANG He, LI Xin, LIU Heª²Liang

    Department of Urology Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate the genes expression of cancer/testis antigens (CTA) in human bladder cancer. METHODS: Reverseª²transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTª²PCR) was used to investigate the expression of the MAGEA1, SSX2, NYª²ESOª²1, MAGEC1, MAGEE1 and HAGE genes in 33 bladder cancer samples and corresponding nonª²tumorous bladder tissues. Three samples randomly selected from each CTA PCR product were sequenced. RESULTS: In the 33 tumor samples, the MAGEA1, SSX2, NYª²ESOª²1, MAGEC1, MAGEE1 and HAGE mRNA expression rates were respectively 21.2% (7/33), 39.4% (13/33), 69.7% (23/33), 42.4% (14/33), 36.4% (12/33) and 24.2% (8/33). In tumor tissues, the positivity rate was found to be 75.8% (25/33) for at least one of these genes expression, and 69.7% (23/33) for two and more than two. Almost none of the nonª²tumorous bladder tissues were positive for these genes. The DNA sequence confirmed that the RTª²PCR products were CTA cDNA. CONCLUSION: The cancer/testis antigens are potential targets for antigenª²specific immunotherapy of bladder cancer. The coexpression pattern of these antigens provides a theoretic foundation for the development of a polyvalent bladder cancer vaccine. ......