Dis Markers. 2013;35(6):915-23. doi: 10.1155/2013/907394.
We investigated the feasibility of the combined detection of HLA-A2/MAGE-A3 epitope-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for specific diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We detected the frequency of MAGE-A3 epitopes (p112-120, KVAELVHFL) in spontaneous CTLs in the peripheral blood of HCC patients, liver cirrhosis patients, and healthy subjects with HLA-A2/polypeptide complex (pentamer) detection technology. Eighty-five HCC cases, 38 liver cirrhosis cases, and 50 healthy cases who were HLA-A2-positive were selected from 175 HCC patients, 80 patients with liver cirrhosis, and 105 healthy volunteers, respectively. The frequency of HLA-A2-specific MAGE-A3(+) CTLs in the HCC group was significantly higher than that in the other groups. Combined detection of MAGE-A3(+) CTL frequency and serum AFP value had a higher specificity than either of the two indicators alone. The pentamer technique is helpful in distinguishing benign lesions and malignant lesions in the liver. Combined with serum AFP, it can improve the diagnosis performance for HCC, especially for AFP-negative cancer.
我们研究了联合检测 HLA-A2/MAGE-A3 表位特异性细胞毒性 T 淋巴细胞（CTL）和血清甲胎蛋白（AFP）对肝细胞癌（HCC）的特异性诊断的可行性。我们使用 HLA-A2/多肽复合物（五聚体）检测技术检测了 HCC 患者、肝硬化患者和健康受试者外周血中自发 CTL 中 MAGE-A3 表位（p112-120，KVAELVHFL）的频率。从 175 例 HCC 患者、80 例肝硬化患者和 105 例健康志愿者中分别选择了 85 例 HCC 病例、38 例肝硬化病例和 50 例健康对照，这些病例均为 HLA-A2 阳性。HCC 组中 HLA-A2 特异性 MAGE-A3（+）CTL 的频率明显高于其他组。联合检测 MAGE-A3（+）CTL 频率和血清 AFP 值的特异性高于任一单一指标。五聚体技术有助于区分肝脏的良性病变和恶性病变。与血清 AFP 联合使用，可以提高 HCC 的诊断性能，特别是对 AFP 阴性的癌症。
