Diagnostic value of cancer-testis antigen mRNA in peripheral blood from hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic value of cancer-testis antigen (CTA) mRNA in peripheral blood samples from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples were taken from 90 patients with HCC before operation. Expression of melanoma antigen-1 (MAGE-1), synovial sarcoma X breakpoint- 1 (SSX-1), and cancer-testis-associated protein of 11 kDa (CTp11) mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) was tested by nested reverse transcriptspolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) in these patients was also determined. RESULTS: The positive rate of MAGE-1, SSX-1 and CTp11 transcripts was 37.7%, 34.4%, 31.1% in PBMC samples, and 74.4%, 73.3%, 62.2% in their resected tumor samples, respectively. The positive rate for at least one of the transcripts of three CTA genes was 66.7% in PBMC samples and 91.1% in their resected tumor samples. MAGE-1, SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA were not detected in the PBMC of those patients from whom the resected tumor samples were MAGE-1, SSX-1 and/or CTp11 mRNA negative, nor in the PBMC samples from 20 healthy donors and 10 cirrhotic patients. Among the 90 patients, the serum AFP in 44 patients met the general diagnostic standard (AFP > 400 μg/L) for HCC, and was negative (AFP ≤ 20 μg/L) or positive with a low concentration (20 μg/L