Expression Of Cancer-testis Antigens SSX-1 And NY-ESO-1 MRNA In Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma And Its Clinical Significance

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRN A in the tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the peripheral blood of the patients,to discuse the possibility and the clinical significance of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 antigens used as specific targets for the immunotherapy of HCC, and to access SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA used as markers for examining HCC cells in peripheral blood of HCC patients. Methods Using the RT-PCR method, the SSX-1 and NY-ESO-lmRNA were examined in the peripheral blood, tumor tissues, para-tumor tissues of 25 cases of HCC patients and samples corresponding with them of 20 control-patients. A randomized sample was respectively extracted for DNA sequencing from positive electrophoresis expression samples of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 to examine the reliability of results. Result The expression rate of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA was 66. 7% (15/25) and 12% (3/25) respectively in tumor tissues of HCC , whereas 40% (10/25) and 4% (1/25) in the corresponding peripheral blood. The expression of SSX-1 or NY-ESO-1 mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC was same as in their tumor tissues. SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA were not expressed in samples of cirrhosis , normal liver tissue and peripheral blood of non-cancer patients. The DNA sequence confirmed that the RT-PCR products were truly target cDNA. No significant relationship was found between the expression of SSX-1 gene, NY-ESO-1 gene and clinical indicators, such as age, gender, tumor size, extent of differentiation and serum AFP level, et al (p>0.05). However, in 33. 2% patients with normal serum AFP (<20ng/L), specific expression of SSX-1mRNA was observed. Conclusion (1) SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 gene were expressed with a high specificity in the tissues of HCC, thus their antigens might be new potentially promising targets forantigen-specific immunotherapy of HCC; (2) High specific expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA was observed in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC, it suggested that applying them as tumor markers to detect HCC cells in peripheral blood were an adjuvant diagnostic tool . ㏒pecific expression of SSX-1mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC was observed in the group with normal serum AFP (<20ng/L) in the patients with HCC, suggesting that applying both SSX-lmRNA and AFP as tumor markers together might be useful to improve the diagnostic accuracy for HCC.