Division of Internal Medicine and Clinic of Oncology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2011;6(6):e21418. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021418. Epub 2011 Jun 27.
MAGE-C1/CT7 and MAGE-C2/CT10 are members of the large MAGE family of cancer-testis (CT) antigens. CT antigens are promising targets for immunotherapy in cancer because their expression is restricted to cancer and germ line cells and a proportion of cancer patients presents with immune responses against CT antigens, which clearly demonstrates their immunogenicity. This study investigates the expression of MAGE-C1/CT7 and MAGE-C2/CT10 in primary and metastatic melanoma. Immunohistochemical staining of tissue microarrays that consisted of 59 primary malignant melanomas of the skin, 163 lymph node and distant melanoma metastases and 68 melanoma cell lines was performed. We found MAGE-C1/CT7 expression in 15 out of 50 (24%) primary melanomas and 15 out of 50 (24%) cell lines, whereas MAGE-C2/CT10 was detected in 17 out of 51 (33%) primary melanomas and 14 out of 68 (17%) cell lines. MAGE-C1/CT7 and MAGE-C2/CT10 were both detected in 40% of melanoma metastases. Patients with MAGE-C1/CT7 or MAGE-C2/CT10 positive primary melanoma had significantly more lymph node metastases (p = 0.005 and p<0.001, resp.). Prediction of lymph node metastasis by MAGE-C1/CT7 and MAGE-C2/CT10 was independent of tumor cell proliferation rate (Ki67 labeling index) in a multivariate analysis (p = 0.01). Our results suggest that the expression of MAGE-C1/CT7 and MAGE-C2/CT10 in primary melanoma is a potent predictor of sentinel lymph node metastasis.
MAGE-C1/CT7 和 MAGE-C2/CT10 是癌症睾丸抗原（CT）大家族中的成员。CT 抗原是癌症免疫治疗的有前途的靶点，因为它们的表达仅限于癌症和生殖细胞，并且一部分癌症患者对 CT 抗原产生免疫反应，这清楚地证明了它们的免疫原性。本研究调查了 MAGE-C1/CT7 和 MAGE-C2/CT10 在原发性和转移性黑色素瘤中的表达。对包含 59 例皮肤原发性恶性黑色素瘤、163 例淋巴结和远处黑色素瘤转移灶和 68 例黑色素瘤细胞系的组织微阵列进行了免疫组织化学染色。我们发现 MAGE-C1/CT7 在 50 例原发性黑色素瘤中的 15 例（24%）和 50 例细胞系中的 15 例（24%）中表达，而 MAGE-C2/CT10 在 51 例原发性黑色素瘤中的 17 例（33%）和 68 例细胞系中的 14 例（17%）中检测到。MAGE-C1/CT7 和 MAGE-C2/CT10 均在 40%的黑色素瘤转移灶中检测到。MAGE-C1/CT7 或 MAGE-C2/CT10 阳性原发性黑色素瘤患者的淋巴结转移明显更多（p=0.005 和 p<0.001）。在多变量分析中，MAGE-C1/CT7 和 MAGE-C2/CT10 对淋巴结转移的预测独立于肿瘤细胞增殖率（Ki67 标记指数）（p=0.01）。我们的结果表明，MAGE-C1/CT7 和 MAGE-C2/CT10 在原发性黑色素瘤中的表达是前哨淋巴结转移的有力预测指标。
