• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.4
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• pp.315-322
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• 2011

Background: A variety of diagnostic modalities for lung cancer have been developed. To achieve efficient and early detection of lung cancer, we tried to measure the expression rates of the melanoma associated gene (MAGE) and synovial sarcoma on X chromosome (SSX) genes. Methods: We designed primers for the SSX gene. In addition to the pre-developed MAGE A primer, using an SSX gene primer was attempted to increase the detection rate. We obtained cancer tissues and cancer-free lung tissues from resected lung, sputum from lung cancer patients who had not undergone surgery, and sputum from healthy people and patients with benign intrathoracic diseases. Results: The sensitivity of the MAGE or SSX gene RT-PCR to identifying cancer tissue of the 69 lung cancer patients was 95.2% for squamous cell carcinoma (scc), 87.0% for adenocarcinoma, and 100% for small cell carcinoma. The mean sensitivity value was 94.2% (p=0.001). For adenocarcinoma, the additional use of the SSX gene resulted in a higher expression rate than MAGE alone (87% vs. 69.6%). The expression rate for the cancer-free lung tissue was 14.3% in scc, 17.4% in adenocarcinoma, and 25.0% in small cell carcinoma. In the induced sputum of 49 lung cancer patients who had not undergone surgery, the expression rate for one of the two genes was 65.5%. The expression rate for the sputum of healthy people and benign intrathoracic diseases by MAGE or SSX gene reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was 3.8% and 17.7%. Conclusion: Detecting lung cancer using the expression of MAGE and SSX genes in lung cancer tissue has high sensitivity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.886-891
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• 2009

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are immunogenic in cancer patients, exhibit highly tissue-restricted expression, and are considered promising target molecules for cancer vaccines. We investigated the expression of 13 CT genes in 29 Korean patients with primary breast carcinoma. The most frequently expressed CT genes were MAGE-3 (66%) and MAGE-1 (57%), followed by LAGE-1 (55%), NY-SAR-35 (49%), MAGE-4 (41%), NY-ESO-1 (38%), CT-7 (24%) and SSX-4 (24%), whereas SSX-1, SSX-2, MAGE-10 and NY-TLU-57 were found to be expressed significantly less often (3-7%) and SCP-l not all. Expression of at least one antigen was observed in 28 breast cancer samples. Immunohistochemistry was performed for NY-ESO-l and MAGE-3 protein expression in breast tumor samples. NY-ESO-l and MAGE-3 proteins were expressed in 11 of 29 (38%) and 12 of 29 (41 %) breast tumors. Our results suggest that CT antigens may be potential candidates for polyvalent immunotherapy in Korean breast cancer patients.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.190-193
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• 2008

Objective : Cancer-testis (CT) genes are considered promising candidates for immunotherapeutic approaches. The aim of this study was to investigate which CT genes should be targeted in immunotherapy for brain tumors. Methods : We investigated the expression of 6 CT genes (MAGE-E1, SOX-6, SCP-1, SSX-2, SSX-4, and HOMTES-85) using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction in 26 meningiomas and 32 other various brain tumor specimens, obtained from the patients during tumor surgery from 2000 to 2005. Results : The most frequently expressed CT genes of meningiomas were MAGE-E1, which were found in 22/26 (85%) meningioma samples, followed by SOX-6 (9/26 or 35%). Glioblastomas were most frequently expressed SOX-6 (6/7 or 86%), MAGE-E1 (5/7 or 71%), followed by SSX-2 (2/7 or 29%) and SCP-1 (1/7 or 14%). However, 4 astrocytomas, 3 anaplastic astrocytomas, and 3 oligodendroglial tumors only expressed MAGE-E1 and SOX-6. Schwannomas also expressed SOX-6 (5/6 or 83%), MAGE-E1 (4/6 or 67%), and SCP-1 (2/6 or 33%). Conclusion : The data presented here suggest that MAGE-E1 and SOX-6 genes are expressed in a high percentage of human central nervous system tumors, which implies the CT genes could be the potential targets of immunotherapy for human central nervous system tumors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2020

Background: Previous studies have shown that lung cancer stem cells express CD133 and that certain cancer stem cells express cancer germline antigens (CGAs). The transcriptional regulation of CD133 is complicated and poorly understood. We investigated CD133 and CGA expression in a non-small cell lung cancer cell line. Methods: The expression levels of CD133 and CGAs (MAGE-6, GAGE, SSX, and TRAG-3) were measured in an NCI-H292 lung cancer cell line. The methylation status of the CD133 gene promoter region was analyzed. The expression levels and promoter methylation statuses of CD133 and CGAs were confirmed by treatment with the demethylating agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (ADC). Results: After treatment with ADC, CD133 expression was no longer detected. MAGE-6 and TRAG-3 were detected before ADC treatment, while GAGE and SSX were not detected. ADC treatment upregulated MAGE-6 and TRAG-3 expression, while GAGE expression was still undetected after treatment, and only weak SSX expression was observed. GAGE expression was not correlated with expression of CD133, while the levels of expression of MAGE-6, TRAG-3, and SSX were inversely correlated with CD133 expression. Conclusion: These results showed that CD133 expression can be regulated by methylation. Thus, the demethylation of the CD133 promoter may compromise the treatment of lung cancer by inactivating cancer stem cells and/or activating CGAs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.912-922
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• 2011

Cancer-testis (CT) antigens are immunogenic protein antigens with restricted expression in the testes and a wide range of human tumor types, eliciting both humoral and cellular immune responses in cancer patients. They are considered to be ideal targets for vaccine-based immunotherapy, and more than 100 CT antigens, including MAGE, NY-ESO-1, GAGE, BAGE, LAGE, SSX2 and NY-SAR-35 have been identified to date. The CT antigens were identified through various techniques and can be divided in those that are encoded on the X chromosome, the CT-X genes, and those that are not, the non-X-CT genes. CT genes are aberrantly activated and expressed in a proportion of various types of human cancers. The biological role of CT-X in both germ line tissues and tumors remains poorly understood. Cancer vaccine trials based on several CT antigens are currently ongoing. This paper reviews recent advances in and future trends of CT antigens for cancer immunotherapy.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.84-90
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• 2007

To determine levels of 11 sulfonamides for animals in food, simultaneously, a selective method of high performance liquid chromatography with UV detector has been applied. The targets were sulfachlorpyridazine (SCP), sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), sulfisoxazole (SSX), sulfamerazine (SMZ), sulfamethazine (SMT), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamethoxypyridazine (SMP), sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), sulfaquinoxaline (SQX) and sulfathiazole (STZ). Food samples were beef, pork, chicken, milk and whole egg that were collected at the main 6 cities in Korea as Seoul, Busan, Daejon, Incheon, Mokpo and Gangneung. After homogenizing food samples with sodium phosphate solution and acetonitrile, it was extracted with n-hexane. The mobile phase gradient was a mixture of 5 mM potassium phosphate (pH 3.25) and methanol with a gradient ratio from 100:0 to 30:70. The UV wavelength was 270 nm. The overall recoveries were ranged from 75% to 95% and the limit of detection was minimum 0.004 mg/kg for SMT, and 0.007 mg/kg for STZ at signal/noise > 3, respectively. As results, sulfonamide drugs were not detected in most of the selected food samples, however, sulfamonomethoxine was detected in meat. The determined level of sulfamonomethoxine were 0.03 and 0.06 mg/kg for beef that were below the MRLs.