CTAG1B

Gene Summary

Gene:CTAG1B; cancer/testis antigen 1B
Aliases: CTAG, ESO1, CT6.1, CTAG1, LAGE-2, LAGE2B, NY-ESO-1
Location:Xq28
Summary:The protein encoded by this gene is an antigen that is overexpressed in many cancers but that is also expressed in normal testis. This gene is found in a duplicated region of the X-chromosome and therefore has a neighboring gene of identical sequence. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2012]
Databases:OMIM, HGNC, Ensembl, GeneCard, Gene
Protein:cancer/testis antigen 1
Source:NCBIAccessed: 29 August, 2019

Cancer Overview

Research Indicators

Publications Per Year (1994-2019)
Graph generated 29 August 2019 using data from PubMed using criteria.

Literature Analysis

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Tag cloud generated 29 August, 2019 using data from PubMed, MeSH and CancerIndex

Latest Publications: CTAG1B (cancer-related)

Gong W, Hoffmann JM, Stock S, et al.
Comparison of IL-2 vs IL-7/IL-15 for the generation of NY-ESO-1-specific T cells.
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2019; 68(7):1195-1209 [PubMed] Related Publications
The anti-tumor efficacy of TCR-engineered T cells in vivo depends largely on less-differentiated subsets such as T cells with naïve-like T cell (T

Ardalan Khales S, Abbaszadegan MR, Majd A, Forghanifard MM
Linkage between EMT and stemness state through molecular association between TWIST1 and NY-ESO1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Biochimie. 2019; 163:84-93 [PubMed] Related Publications
Aberrant expression of cancer testis antigens (CTAs) is reported in tumors, especially those with stemness properties. A number of CTAs can induce epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) process and promote cancer stem cells (CSCs) characteristics. We aimed in this study to analyze the correlation between NY-ESO1 and TWIST1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), as well as their impact on EMT process. Gene expression profiling of NY-ESO1 and TWIST1 was performed in 43 esophageal tumors compared to their margin normal tissues of using qRT-PCR, and their correlation with clinicopathological variables of the patients was evaluated. In silico analysis of the NY-ESO1, epithelial and mesenchymal cell markers and also their promoter sequences was executed. ESCC cell lines KYSE-30 and YM-1 were transduced to ectopically express TWIST1 using a retroviral system, followed by qRT-PCR mRNA expression analysis to reveal the probable correlation among TWIST1, NY-ESO1 and EMT markers gene expression. Scratch assay was performed to estimate migration of TWIST1-induced cells. Overexpression of TWIST1 and NY-ESO1 mRNA was observed in 42% and 39.5% (P ˂ 0.05) of tumors, respectively. Expression of the genes was significantly correlated with each other (p = 0.005). TWIST1 and NY-ESO1 overexpression was significantly associated with stage of progression and size of tumors, respectively. A direct association between TWIST1 and NY-ESO1 mRNA expression was confirmed by induced ectopic expression of TWIST1 in ESCC cell lines KYSE-30 and YM-1. TWIST1-induced cells led to increase migration in ESCC cell line. Furthermore, significant up-regulation of EMT markers was observed following ectopic expression of TWIST1 in these cells. Based on our findings, it may be proposed that a vital association is exist between the EMT and the acquisition of cancer stemness state in tumor cells through the TWIST1/NY-ESO1 axis and it can be a critical hallmark in ESCC tumorigenesis.

Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Zhang L
Expression of cancer-testis antigens in esophageal cancer and their progress in immunotherapy.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2019; 145(2):281-291 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
PURPOSE: Esophageal cancer is a common disease in China with low survival rate due to no obvious early symptoms and lack of effective screening strategies. Traditional treatments usually do not produce desirable results in patients with advanced esophageal cancer, so immunotherapy which relies on tumor-related antigens is needed to combat low survival rates effectively. Cancer-testis antigens (CTA), a large family of tumor-related antigens, have a strong in vivo immunogenicity and tumor-restricted expressing patterns in normal adult tissues. These two characteristics are ideal features of anticancer immunotherapy targets and, therefore, promoted the development of some studies of CTA-based therapy. To provide ideas for the role of the cancer-testis antigens MAGE-A, NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, and TTK in esophageal cancer, we summarized their expression, prognostic value, and development in immunotherapy.
METHODS: The relevant literature from PubMed is reviewed in this study.
RESULTS: In esophageal cancer, although the relationship between expression of MAGE-A, NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, and TTK and prognosis value is still in a controversial situation, MAGE-A, NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, and TTK are highly expressed and can induce specific CTL cells to produce particular killing effect on tumor cells, and some clinical trials have demonstrated that immunotherapy for esophageal cancer patients is effective and safe, which provides a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of esophageal cancer in the future.
CONCLUSION: In this review, we summarize expression and prognostic value of MAGE-A, NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, and TTK in esophageal cancer and point out recent advances in immunotherapy about them.

Chi Soh JE, Abu N, Jamal R
The potential immune-eliciting cancer testis antigens in colorectal cancer.
Immunotherapy. 2018; 10(12):1093-1104 [PubMed] Related Publications
The identification of cancer testis antigens (CTAs) has been an important finding in the search of potential targets for cancer immunotherapy. CTA is one of the subfamilies of the large tumor-associated antigens groups. It is aberrantly expressed in various types of human tumors but is absent in normal tissues except for the testis and placenta. This CTAs-restricted pattern of expression in human malignancies together with its potential immunogenic properties, has stirred the interest of many researchers to use CTAs as one of the ideal targets in cancer immunotherapy. To date, multiple studies have shown that CTAs-based vaccines can elicit clinical and immunological responses in different tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC). This review details our current understanding of CTAs and CRC in regard to the expression and immunological responses as well as some of the critical hurdles in CTAs-based immunotherapy.

Smith SM, Iwenofu OH
NY-ESO-1: a promising cancer testis antigen for sarcoma immunotherapy and diagnosis.
Chin Clin Oncol. 2018; 7(4):44 [PubMed] Related Publications
Sarcomas are heterogenous malignant mesenchymal neoplasms. These are often notoriously difficult to treat particularly in the metastatic setting. There is therefore an urgent need for development of better and more efficacious targeted therapies. Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are a family of proteins in which aberrant gene-activation and subsequent high level mRNA expression, are restricted to testicular germ cells and are seen in certain malignancies. Importantly, the restriction of this class of antigens to testicular germ cells and malignancies and not somatic tissue, makes them an excellent choice for targeted immunotherapy. The NY-ESO-1is the most immunogenic of CTA and has, of late, become well-studied for its diagnosis and potential treatment implications in sarcomas. This paper reviews both the role of NY-ESO-1 in the diagnosis of sarcomas, as well as the implications of this CTA in vaccine development and treatment of sarcomas.

Gordeeva O
Cancer-testis antigens: Unique cancer stem cell biomarkers and targets for cancer therapy.
Semin Cancer Biol. 2018; 53:75-89 [PubMed] Related Publications
Cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) are considered as unique and promising cancer biomarkers and targets for cancer therapy. CTAs are multifunctional protein group with specific expression patterns in normal embryonic and adult cells and various types of cancer cells. CTAs are involved in regulating of the basic cellular processes during development, stem cell differentiation and carcinogenesis though the biological roles and cell functions of CTA families remain largely unclear. Analysis of CTA expression patterns in embryonic germ and somatic cells, pluripotent and multipotent stem cells, cancer stem cells and their cell descendants indicates that rearrangements of characteristic CTA profiles (aberrant expression) could be associated with cancer transformation and failure of the developmental program of cell lineage specification and germ line restriction. Therefore, aberrant CTA profiles can be used as panels of biomarkers for diagnoses and the selection of cancer treatment strategies. Moreover, immunogenic CTAs are prospective targets for cancer immunotherapy. Clinical trials testing broad range of cancer therapeutic vaccines against antigens of MAGEA and NY-ESO-1 families for treating various cancers have shown mixed clinical efficiency, safety and tolerability, suggesting the requirement of in-depth research of CTA expression in normal and cancer stem cells and extensive clinical trials for improving cancer immunotherapy technologies. This review focuses on recent advancement in study of CTAs in normal and cancer cells, particularly in normal and cancer stem cells, and provides a new insight into CTA expression patterns during normal and cancer stem cell lineage development. Additionally, new approaches in development of effective CTA-based therapies exclusively targeting cancer stem cells will be discussed.

Vodolazhsky DI, Kutilin DS, Mogushkova KA, Kit OI
Specific Features of Transcription Activity of Cancer-Testis Antigens in Patients with Metastatic and Non-Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Bull Exp Biol Med. 2018; 165(3):382-385 [PubMed] Related Publications
Cancer-testis antigens, effective markers of tissue malignant transformation, are characterized by heterogonous transcription depending on the pathological features of breast cancer. We performed screening of transcription profile of cancer-testis antigens specific for breast tumor tissues in female patients with and without regional metastasis. The relative expression of 16 genes (MAGEA1, MAGEA2, MAGEA3, MAGEA4, MAGEB1, MAGEB2, GAGE1, GAGE3, GAGE4, MAGEC1, BAGE, XAGE3, NY-ESO1, SSX2, SYCP1, and PRAME1) was analyzed by RT-qPCR method in biopsy specimens of the mammary gland tissues obtained during surgery from 25 patients. Differential transcription activity of cancer-testis antigens genes was observed in patients with metastatic (enhanced expression of MAGEA2, MAGEB1, and XAGE3 genes) and non-metastatic (enhanced expression of GAGE3 and PRAME1 genes) breast cancer.

Bensaid D, Blondy T, Deshayes S, et al.
Assessment of new HDAC inhibitors for immunotherapy of malignant pleural mesothelioma.
Clin Epigenetics. 2018; 10:79 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Background: Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a very rare and highly aggressive cancer of the pleura associated in most cases with asbestos exposure. To date, no really efficient treatments are available for this pathology. Recently, it has been shown that epigenetic drugs, particularly DNA methylation or histone acetylation modulating agents, could be very efficient in terms of cytotoxicity for several types of cancer cells. We previously showed that a hypomethylating agent (decitabine) and a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) (valproic acid (VPA)) combination was immunogenic and led to the induction of an anti-tumor immune response in a mice model of mesothelioma. However, VPA is not very specific, is active at millimolar concentrations and is responsible for side effects in clinic. To improve this approach, we studied four newly synthetized HDACi, two hydroxamates (ODH and NODH) and two benzamides (ODB and NODB), in comparison with VPA and SAHA. We evaluated their toxicity on immune cells and their immunogenicity on MPM cells in combination with decitabine.
Results: All the tested HDACi were toxic for immune cells at high concentrations. Combination with decitabine increased toxicity of HDACi only towards T-cell clone. A decrease in the proportion of regulatory T cells and natural killer cells was observed in particular with VPA and ODH. In MPM cells, all HDACi combinations induced NY-ESO-1 cancer testis antigen (CTA) expression and the recognition of the treated cells by a NY-ESO-1 specific T-CD8 clone. However, for MAGE-A1, MAGE-A3 and XAGE-1b mRNA expression, the results obtained depended on the HDACi used and on the CTA studied. Depending on the MPM cell line studied, molecules alone increased moderately PD-L1 expression. When combined, a higher stimulation of this immune check point inhibitor expression was observed. Decitabine-induced anti-viral response seemed to be inhibited in the presence of HDACi.
Conclusions: This work shows that the combination of decitabine and HDACi could be of interest for MPM immunotherapy. However, this combination induced PD-L1 expression which suggests that an association with anti-PD-L1 therapy should be performed to induce an efficient anti-tumor immune response.

Thomas R, Al-Khadairi G, Roelands J, et al.
NY-ESO-1 Based Immunotherapy of Cancer: Current Perspectives.
Front Immunol. 2018; 9:947 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
NY-ESO-1 or New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma 1 is a well-known cancer-testis antigen (CTAs) with re-expression in numerous cancer types. Its ability to elicit spontaneous humoral and cellular immune responses, together with its restricted expression pattern, have rendered it a good candidate target for cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we provide background information on NY-ESO-1 expression and function in normal and cancerous tissues. Furthermore, NY-ESO-1-specific immune responses have been observed in various cancer types; however, their utility as biomarkers are not well determined. Finally, we describe the immune-based therapeutic options targeting NY-ESO-1 that are currently in clinical trial. We will highlight the recent advancements made in NY-ESO-1 cancer vaccines, adoptive T cell therapy, and combinatorial treatment with checkpoint inhibitors and will discuss the current trends for future NY-ESO-1 based immunotherapy. Cancer treatment has been revolutionized over the last few decades with immunotherapy emerging at the forefront. Immune-based interventions have shown promising results, providing a new treatment avenue for durable clinical responses in various cancer types. The majority of successful immunotherapy studies have been reported in liquid cancers, whereas these approaches have met many challenges in solid cancers. Effective immunotherapy in solid cancers is hampered by the complex, dynamic tumor microenvironment that modulates the extent and phenotype of the antitumor immune response. Furthermore, many solid tumor-associated antigens are not private but can be found in normal somatic tissues, resulting in minor to detrimental off-target toxicities. Therefore, there is an ongoing effort to identify tumor-specific antigens to target using various immune-based modalities. CTAs are considered good candidate targets for immunotherapy as they are characterized by a restricted expression in normal somatic tissues concomitant with a re-expression in solid epithelial cancers. Moreover, several CTAs have been found to induce a spontaneous immune response, NY-ESO-1 being the most immunogenic among the family members. Hence, this review will focus on NY-ESO-1 and discuss the past and current NY-ESO-1 targeted immunotherapeutic strategies.

Miyao K, Terakura S, Okuno S, et al.
Introduction of Genetically Modified CD3ζ Improves Proliferation and Persistence of Antigen-Specific CTLs.
Cancer Immunol Res. 2018; 6(6):733-744 [PubMed] Related Publications
The clinical efficacy of T-cell therapies based on T cells transduced with genes encoding tumor-specific T-cell receptors (TCR-T) is related to the

Tavakoli Koudehi A, Mahjoubi B, Mirzaei R, et al.
AKAP4, SPAG9 and NY-ESO-1 in Iranian Colorectal Cancer Patients as Probable Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2018; 19(2):463-469 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Background and objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the world. Cancer-Testis Antigens (CTAs) are a group of tumor-associated proteins which typically are expressed in normal reproductive cells of men, but their expression in normal somatic cells is silenced. CTAs, due to their limited expression pattern, are considered as promising targets for cancer diagnosis and immuno-therapy. Methods: Expression of AKAP4, SPAG9 and CTAG1B genes from the CTAs family was studied in both tumor and normal tissues of 62 Iranian CRC patients by RT-PCR with the aim of finding biomarkers for early detection and anticipated progression. Statistical analysis was performed SPSS software V22.0 to assess the significance of any associations. Results: Elevated expression of SPAG9 and AKAP4 genes was observed in approximately 66% and 44% of tumours, respectively, as compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues. While a significant association was found between AKAP4 gene expression and metastasis (P-value: 0.045), expression of the CTAG1B (NY-ESO-1) gene was not observed in our cases. Conclusion: AKAP4 and SPAG9 genes may find use as diagnostic biomarkers for CRC and AKAP4 may play an important role in progression to metastasis.

Futawatari N, Fukuyama T, Yamamura R, et al.
Early gastric cancer frequently has high expression of KK-LC-1, a cancer-testis antigen.
World J Gastroenterol. 2017; 23(46):8200-8206 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
AIM: To assess cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) expression in gastric cancer patients and examined their associations with clinicopathological factors.
METHODS: Eighty-three gastric cancer patients were evaluated in this study. Gastric cancer specimens were evaluated for the gene expression of CTAs, Kitakyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1), melanoma antigen (MAGE)-A1, MAGE-A3 and New York esophageal cancer-1 (NY-ESO-1), by reverse transcription PCR. Clinicopathological background information, such as gender, age, tumor size, macroscopic type, tumor histology, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, lymphatic invasion, venous invasion, and pathological stage, was obtained. Statistical comparisons between the expression of each CTA and each clinicopathological background were performed using the χ
RESULTS: The expression rates of KK-LC-1, MAGE-A1, MAGE-A3, and NY-ESO-1 were 79.5%, 32.5%, 39.8%, and 15.7%, respectively. In early stage gastric cancer specimens, the expression of KK-LC-1 was 79.4%, which is comparable to the 79.6% observed in advanced stage specimens. The expression of KK-LC-1 was not significantly associated with clinicopathological factors, while there were considerable differences in the expression rates of MAGE-A1 and MAGE-A3 with
CONCLUSION: The KK-LC-1 expression rate was high even in patients with stage I cancer, suggesting that KK-LC-1 is a useful biomarker for early diagnosis of gastric cancer.

Faramarzi S, Ghafouri-Fard S
Melanoma: a prototype of cancer-testis antigen-expressing malignancies.
Immunotherapy. 2017; 9(13):1103-1113 [PubMed] Related Publications
Melanoma is the first malignancy in which expression and immunogenicity of cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) have been documented. Several CTAs have been shown to be expressed in melanoma samples especially those with metastatic potential. Many of them have been shown to exert oncogenic effects through modulation of essential pathways involved in melanoma. The crucial role of CTAs in the pathogenesis of melanoma, the high prevalence of expression of CTA panels in melanoma and the presence of spontaneous as well as inducible immune responses against CTAs in melanoma patients potentiate CTAs as immunotherapeutic targets. Numerous clinical trials are now ongoing to evaluate CTA-based immunotherapeutic effects in melanoma patient's survival. NY-ESO-1 and MAGE antigens have the most promising results up to now.

Oda Y, Yamamoto H, Kohashi K, et al.
Soft tissue sarcomas: From a morphological to a molecular biological approach.
Pathol Int. 2017; 67(9):435-446 [PubMed] Related Publications
Recently developed molecular genetic techniques have led to the elucidation of tumor-specific genomic alterations and thereby the reclassification of tumor entities of soft tissue sarcoma. A solitary fibrous tumor-mimicking tumor with the AHRR-NCOA2 gene has been isolated as angiofibroma of soft tissue. As for small round cell sarcomas, novel fusion genes such as CIC-DUX4 and BCOR-CCNB3 have been identified in these tumor groups. SMARCB1/INI1 deficient tumors with round cell morphology are also expected to be reclassified in three types, based on the combination of their morphology and genotype. The identification of the MDM2 gene amplification in pleomorphic sarcomas has extended the entity of dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLS). Our recent molecular investigations elucidated candidates for novel therapeutic strategies. Activation of the Akt-mTOR pathway was correlated with poor prognosis or tumor grade in spindle cell sarcomas including malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor. In vitro and in vivo studies of transcription factor Forkhead Box M1 (FOXM1) demonstrated the close correlation between aggressive biological behavior or chemosensitivity and FOXM1 expression in synovial sarcoma, so far. Finally, in regard to the investigation of cancer-testis antigens, myxoid/round cell liposarcoma and synovial sarcoma showed frequent and high expression of PRAME and NY-ESO-1.

Schmidt J, Guillaume P, Dojcinovic D, et al.
J Biol Chem. 2017; 292(28):11840-11849 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Tumor exomes provide comprehensive information on mutated, overexpressed genes and aberrant splicing, which can be exploited for personalized cancer immunotherapy. Of particular interest are mutated tumor antigen T-cell epitopes, because neoepitope-specific T cells often are tumoricidal. However, identifying tumor-specific T-cell epitopes is a major challenge. A widely used strategy relies on initial prediction of human leukocyte antigen-binding peptides by

Fukuyama T, Futawatari N, Ichiki Y, et al.
Correlation Between Expression of the Cancer/Testis Antigen KK-LC-1 and
In Vivo. 2017 May-Jun; 31(3):403-407 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
BACKGROUND/AIM: Our previous study indicated that Kita-kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) is a cancer/testis antigen (CTA) expressed in 82% of gastric cancer cases. Here, we investigated the relationship between KK-LC-1 expression and Helicobacter pylori infection in Japanese patients with gastric cancer.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We examined CTA expression in 25 surgical gastric cancer specimens and anti-H. pylori IgGs in the serum of each patient.
RESULTS: KK-LC-1 was expressed in 80% of tumor samples, markedly higher than melanoma antigen gene (MAGE)-A1, MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, synovial sarcoma, X breakpoint 4 (SSX4) and New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 (NY-ESO-1). Anti-H. pylori IgG titers from the KK-LC-1-positive patients were significantly higher (67.5±7.6) than those from KK-LC-1-negative patients (15.8±7.5, p<0.01) although there were no significant differences between patients positive and negative for MAGE-A1, -A3 and-A4, SSX4 and NY-ESO-1.
CONCLUSION: As far as we are aware, this is the first report of a correlation between a carcinogen and CTA expression in clinical samples. KK-LC-1 was frequently expressed in gastric cancer caused by H. pylori infection. The risk diagnosis for gastric cancer might be more accurate if KK-LC-1 expression status were also considered.

Iura K, Maekawa A, Kohashi K, et al.
Cancer-testis antigen expression in synovial sarcoma: NY-ESO-1, PRAME, MAGEA4, and MAGEA1.
Hum Pathol. 2017; 61:130-139 [PubMed] Related Publications
Synovial sarcoma (SS) is regarded as a relatively chemosensitive sarcoma, but the prognosis of advanced SSs remains poor. Here we identified highly expressed cancer-testis antigens that could be promising immunotherapy targets for SS, using a previously conducted cDNA microarray, and we assessed the clinicopathological or prognostic relationships of these antigens in SS. We compared the gene expression profiles of 11 SSs with those of 3 normal adipose tissues. Among the up-regulated cancer-testis antigens, we analyzed PRAME, MAGEA1, and MAGEA4 and another cancer-testis antigen (NY-ESO-1) together, by immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction in 108 SSs. Immunohistochemically, NY-ESO-1, PRAME, MAGEA4, and MAGEA1 were positive in 66 (61%), 93 (86%), 89 (82%), and 16 (15%) of 108 SSs, respectively, and 104 (96%) of 108 SSs showed the immunohistochemical expression of at least 1 of NY-ESO-1, PRAME, and MAGEA4. Moreover, the high expression of at least 1 of these 3 antigens was observed in 83% of the SSs. High expression of NY-ESO-1 and MAGEA4 was significantly correlated with the presence of necrosis and advanced clinical stage. The immunohistochemical expression of these cancer-testis antigens was not correlated with prognosis, but the coexpression of NY-ESO-1, PRAME, and MAGEA4 was significantly associated with adverse prognosis. The real-time polymerase chain reaction results were closely related to the immunohistochemical results: NY-ESO-1 (P = .0019), PRAME (P = .039), MAGEA4 (P = .0149), and MAGEA1 (P = .0766). These data support the potential utility of NY-ESO-1, PRAME, and MAGEA4 as immunotherapy targets and ancillary prognostic parameters, suggesting the possible benefit of the combined use of these cancer-testis antigens as an SS immunotherapy target.

Chen X, Wang L, Yue D, et al.
Correlation between the high expression levels of cancer-germline genes with clinical characteristics in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Histol Histopathol. 2017; 32(8):793-803 [PubMed] Related Publications
Antigens encoded by cancer-germline genes are attractive targets for cancer immunotherapy. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the mRNA expression of cancer-germline genes, expression of the encoded proteins in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and their correlations with clinical characteristics. In addition, the effects of downregulation cancer-germline genes on ESCC cells were assessed in vitro. Our results showed that cancer-germline genes were frequently expressed in ESCC samples. The positive rates of in ESCC samples were: 87% of MAGE-A3, 60% of MAGE-A4, 65% of MAGE-C2, and 20% of NY-ESO-1 at mRNA level. MAGE-A3 expression was associated with age, lymph node metastasis and tumor stage (all P<0.05), while MAGE-C2 expression was only associated with tumor stage (P<0.05). Furthermore, the MAGE-A3 expressing patients had a poorer overall survival (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis identified MAGE-A3 as an independent poor prognostic marker in ESCC. In vitro assay, ESCC cell lines treated with specific siRNAs to down-regulate MAGE-A3 and MAGE-C2 resulted in decreased colony-formation and migration ability (P<0.05). Epithelial marker E-cadherin was up-regulated in siRNA-MAGE-A3/C2 cells compared to controls, whereas mesenchymal markers Vimentin, N-cadherin and Slug were downregulated (all P<0.05), suggesting a role for MAGE-A3/C2 in ESCC metastasis through inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition. The present study revealed that cancer-germline genes and their encoded proteins were frequently expressed in ESCC tumor samples and were related to poor prognosis. Thus, cancer-germline genes may serve as useful biomarkers and potential targets for ESCC patients.

Heninger E, Krueger TE, Thiede SM, et al.
Inducible expression of cancer-testis antigens in human prostate cancer.
Oncotarget. 2016; 7(51):84359-84374 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Immune tolerance to self-antigens can limit robust anti-tumor immune responses in the use of tumor vaccines. Expression of novel tumor associated antigens can improve immune recognition and lysis of tumor cells. The cancer-testis antigen (CTA) family of proteins has been hypothesized to be an ideal class of antigens due to tumor-restricted expression, a subset of which have been found to induce antibody responses in patients with prostate disease. We demonstrate that CTA expression is highly inducible in five different Prostate Cancer (PC) cell lines using a hypomethylating agent 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5AZA) and/or a histone deacetylase inhibitor LBH589. These CTAs include NY-ESO1, multiple members of the MAGE and SSX families and NY-SAR35. A subset of CTAs is synergistically induced by the combination of 5AZA and LBH589. We developed an ex vivo organ culture using human PC biopsies for ex vivo drug treatments to evaluate these agents in clinical samples. These assays found significant induction of SSX2 in 9/9 distinct patient samples and NY-SAR35 in 7/9 samples. Further, we identify expression of SSX2 in circulating tumor cells (CTC) from patients with advanced PC. These results indicate that epigenetic modifying agents can induce expression of a broad range of neoantigens in human PC and may serve as a useful adjunctive therapy with novel tumor vaccines and checkpoint inhibitors.

Dallos M, Tap WD, D'Angelo SP
Current status of engineered T-cell therapy for synovial sarcoma.
Immunotherapy. 2016; 8(9):1073-80 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Synovial sarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma characterized by a t(X;18) translocation, which results in a SYT-SSX gene fusion. In the metastatic setting, chemotherapy has limited, durable efficacy prompting the necessity for new therapeutic modalities. One emerging new strategy involves T-cell-directed therapy such as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or the development of T cells that are genetically engineered to express a T-cell receptor against a cancer testis antigen. Of these approaches, engineered T cells that recognize NY-ESO-1 are the furthest along in development. Completed and on-going clinical trials have shown promise and there are efforts to continue to optimize the current approach.

Theodoraki MN, Lorenz KJ, Schneider J, et al.
Influence of Photodynamic Therapy on the Expression of Cancer/Testis Antigens in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.
Anticancer Res. 2016; 36(8):3973-82 [PubMed] Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) represents a palliative treatment resulting in induction of inflammatory reactions with importance for the development of an antitumor immunity. Cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) have been associated with poor prognosis in different types of cancer, including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tumor tissue samples before and after PDT were evaluated for the expression of four different CTAs by immunohistochemistry. Expression intensity and subcellular expression pattern were assessed.
RESULTS: Before PDT, expression of any CTA was detectable in 91%. Comparing the overall expression of CTAs, a decreased expression of all melanoma-associated antigens (MAGEs) post-treatment and a slightly increased expression of New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma 1 (NY-ESO-1) was visible. The simultaneous cytoplasmic and nuclear expression of pan-MAGE or MAGE-A3/A4 correlated with reduced treatment-failure-free-survival (TFFS).
CONCLUSION: This study investigated the impact of PDT on CTA expression in HNSCC, detecting modified expression patterns after PDT. These changes may have been caused by immunological pressure or epigenetic regulation of CTA expression.

Tan MP, Dolton GM, Gerry AB, et al.
Human leucocyte antigen class I-redirected anti-tumour CD4
Clin Exp Immunol. 2017; 187(1):124-137 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
CD4

Kloudová K, Hromádková H, Partlová S, et al.
Expression of tumor antigens on primary ovarian cancer cells compared to established ovarian cancer cell lines.
Oncotarget. 2016; 7(29):46120-46126 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
In order to select a suitable combination of cancer cell lines as an appropriate source of antigens for dendritic cell-based immunotherapy of ovarian cancer, we analyzed the expression level of 21 tumor associated antigens (BIRC5, CA125, CEA, DDX43, EPCAM, FOLR1, Her-2/neu, MAGE-A1, MAGE-A2, MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-A6, MAGE-A10, MAGE-A12, MUC-1, NY-ESO-1, PRAME, p53, TPBG, TRT, WT1) in 4 established ovarian cancer cell lines and in primary tumor cells isolated from the high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancer tissue. More than 90% of tumor samples expressed very high levels of CA125, FOLR1, EPCAM and MUC-1 and elevated levels of Her-2/neu, similarly to OVCAR-3 cell line. The combination of OV-90 and OVCAR-3 cell lines showed the highest overlap with patients' samples in the TAA expression profile.

Miyauchi K, Tsuchikawa T, Wada M, et al.
Clinical relevance of antigen spreading pattern induced by CHP-MAGE-A4 cancer vaccination.
Immunotherapy. 2016; 8(5):527-40 [PubMed] Related Publications
AIM: To investigate the antigen spreading pattern in the CHP-MAGE-A4-vaccinated patients and analyze the clinical relevance of antigen spreading pattern as a surrogate marker of patient survival.
MATERIALS & METHODS: 12 patients who had been injected with 300 μg of CHP-MAGE-A4 and 0.5 Klinische Einheit of OK-432 in more than five vaccinations were analyzed.
RESULTS: Increases in the anti-MAGE-A4-specific antibody response were observed in eight patients (66.7%), compared with six patients (50%) for anti-NY-ESO-1 and five patients (41.7%) for anti-MAGE-A3 after five vaccinations. We identified frequent antigen spreading following MAGE-A4 vaccinations without associations with the clinical response or patient prognosis.
CONCLUSION: Antigen spreading pattern might reflect tumor shrinkage as a response to treatment and treatment history (clinical trial registration number: UMIN000001999).

Srivastava P, Paluch BE, Matsuzaki J, et al.
Induction of cancer testis antigen expression in circulating acute myeloid leukemia blasts following hypomethylating agent monotherapy.
Oncotarget. 2016; 7(11):12840-56 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are promising cancer associated antigens in solid tumors, but in acute myeloid leukemia, dense promoter methylation silences their expression. Leukemia cell lines exposed to HMAs induce expression of CTAs. We hypothesized that AML patients treated with standard of care decitabine (20mg/m2 per day for 10 days) would demonstrate induced expression of CTAs. Peripheral blood blasts serially isolated from AML patients treated with decitabine were evaluated for CTA gene expression and demethylation. Induction of NY-ESO-1 and MAGEA3/A6, were observed following decitabine. Re-expression of NY-ESO-1 and MAGEA3/A6 was associated with both promoter specific and global (LINE-1) hypomethylation. NY-ESO-1 and MAGEA3/A6 mRNA levels were increased irrespective of clinical response, suggesting that these antigens might be applicable even in patients who are not responsive to HMA therapy. Circulating blasts harvested after decitabine demonstrate induced NY-ESO-1 expression sufficient to activate NY-ESO-1 specific CD8+ T-cells. Induction of CTA expression sufficient for recognition by T-cells occurs in AML patients receiving decitabine. Vaccination against NY-ESO-1 in this patient population is feasible.

Park TS, Groh EM, Patel K, et al.
Expression of MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 in Primary and Metastatic Cancers.
J Immunother. 2016; 39(1):1-7 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Melanoma-associated antigen-A (MAGE-A) and New York esophageal squamous cell cancer-1 (NY-ESO-1) are 2 cancer testis antigens (CTA) demonstrating potential for use in targeted immunotherapy. Clinical trials in melanoma and synovial sarcomas targeting these antigens in immune-based therapies have demonstrated durable tumor regression. Although protein expression of NY-ESO-1 has been assessed in a variety of cancer types, the expression of MAGE-A has not been studied in depth. In this study we analyzed MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 expression in 314 melanoma specimens from 301 melanoma patients, 38 patients with squamous cell cancers and 111 patients with adenocarcinomas. Our results demonstrated higher expression of MAGE-A compared with NY-ESO-1 in melanomas (32% vs. 13%) and squamous cell carcinomas (45% vs. 7.9%), and higher expression of both CTAs in metastatic versus primary tumors. CTA expression in adenocarcinomas was low (MAGE-A: 10%, NY-ESO-1: 0.9%). In addition, we looked at concordance of expression among metastatic melanoma lesions within the same patient and found concordant expression in 38 of 47 patients for MAGE-A and 43 of 47 patients for NY-ESO-1. Our study demonstrated that the MAGE-A family may be of greater utility than NY-ESO-1 for targeted immunotherapy in a variety of cancer histologies, in particular metastatic melanomas and squamous cell carcinomas.

Matsuzaki J, Tsuji T, Luescher IF, et al.
Direct tumor recognition by a human CD4(+) T-cell subset potently mediates tumor growth inhibition and orchestrates anti-tumor immune responses.
Sci Rep. 2015; 5:14896 [PubMed] Free Access to Full Article Related Publications
Tumor antigen-specific CD4(+) T cells generally orchestrate and regulate immune cells to provide immune surveillance against malignancy. However, activation of antigen-specific CD4(+) T cells is restricted at local tumor sites where antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are frequently dysfunctional, which can cause rapid exhaustion of anti-tumor immune responses. Herein, we characterize anti-tumor effects of a unique human CD4(+) helper T-cell subset that directly recognizes the cytoplasmic tumor antigen, NY-ESO-1, presented by MHC class II on cancer cells. Upon direct recognition of cancer cells, tumor-recognizing CD4(+) T cells (TR-CD4) potently induced IFN-γ-dependent growth arrest in cancer cells. In addition, direct recognition of cancer cells triggers TR-CD4 to provide help to NY-ESO-1-specific CD8(+) T cells by enhancing cytotoxic activity, and improving viability and proliferation in the absence of APCs. Notably, the TR-CD4 either alone or in collaboration with CD8(+) T cells significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo in a xenograft model. Finally, retroviral gene-engineering with T cell receptor (TCR) derived from TR-CD4 produced large numbers of functional TR-CD4. These observations provide mechanistic insights into the role of TR-CD4 in tumor immunity, and suggest that approaches to utilize TR-CD4 will augment anti-tumor immune responses for durable therapeutic efficacy in cancer patients.

Lee HJ, Kim JY, Song IH, et al.
Expression of NY-ESO-1 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Is Associated with Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and a Good Prognosis.
Oncology. 2015; 89(6):337-44 [PubMed] Related Publications
OBJECTIVES: Accumulating evidence suggests that immunotherapy has great potential for treating triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We analyzed the expression of NY-ESO-1, which is a potent immunogenic cancer testis antigen, and its association with clinicopathological factors in large cohorts of breast cancer patients.
METHODS: A total of 623 consecutive breast cancer patients who underwent surgery between 1993 and 1998 and 612 TNBC patients who underwent surgery between 2004 and 2010 at Asan Medical Center were included. Immunohistochemical staining for NY-ESO-1 was performed using tissue microarrays.
RESULTS: NY-ESO-1 was expressed in 2.6% of consecutive breast cancers, all of which were TNBC (p < 0.001). NY-ESO-1 expression was identified in 9.7% of the TNBC cohort and was significantly correlated with a higher level of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL; p = 0.026). In survival analyses, a lower level of TIL (all, p < 0.001) and the absence of NY-ESO-1 expression (p = 0.024) were significantly associated with poor disease-free survival. Additionally, positive NY-ESO-1 expression was an independent favorable prognostic factor in TNBC patients (p = 0.046).
CONCLUSIONS: NY-ESO-1 is specifically expressed in TNBC, and NY-ESO-1 expression is an independent good prognostic factor in TNBC. Evaluation of NY-ESO-1 expression in TNBC might be useful for selecting patients who may benefit from vaccination therapy and also has a prognostic significance in TNBC.

Criscitiello C, Curigliano G
Immunotherapy of Breast Cancer.
Prog Tumor Res. 2015; 42:30-43 [PubMed] Related Publications
Cancer immunoediting is the process by which the immune system protects the host from tumor development and guides the somatic evolution of tumors by eliminating highly immunogenic tumor cells. A fundamental dogma of tumor immunology and of cancer immunosurveillance in particular is that cancer cells express antigens that differentiate them from their nontransformed counterparts. Molecular studies clearly show that these antigens were often products of mutated cellular genes, aberrantly expressed normal genes, or genes encoding viral proteins. There is a strict correlation between genetic instability and the immune landscape of a breast cancer. Mutational heterogeneity in breast cancer is associated with new cancer-associated genes and new cancer antigens. Frequencies of somatic mutations or mutational burden can be related to the immunogenicity of breast cancer. We believe that molecular subtypes of breast cancer that are triple negative, luminal B-like or HER2-positive have a high mutational burden and can be considered immunogenic. The increasing knowledge of the immune system's capacity to not only recognize and destroy cancer, but also to shape cancer immunogenicity will develop more informed attempts to control cancer via immunological approaches. To be effective in breast cancer, immunotherapies will have to increase the quality or quantity of immune effector cells, reveal additional protective tumor antigens, and/or eliminate cancer-induced immunosuppressive mechanisms. Multiple immunotherapy approaches are under investigation in patients with breast cancer. These include vaccine approaches to elicit strong specific immune responses to tumor antigens such as WT-1, HER2 and NY-ESO-1, approaches involving adoptive transfer of in vitro-expanded, naturally arising or genetically engineered tumor-specific lymphocytes, therapeutic administration of monoclonal antibodies to target and eliminate tumor cells, and approaches that inhibit or destroy the molecular or cellular mediators of cancer-induced immunosuppression, such as CTLA-4, PD-1 or Treg cells. Here we provide a concise and comprehensive review on the role and utility of promising immunotherapeutics for the treatment of patients with breast cancer.

Reardon ES, Hong JA, Straughan DM, et al.
Pulmonary Metastases Exhibit Epigenetic Clonality: Implications for Precision Cancer Therapy.
Ann Thorac Surg. 2015; 100(5):1839-48; discussion 1848 [PubMed] Related Publications
BACKGROUND: Development of effective cancer therapies may be limited by intratumoral heterogeneity, which facilitates outgrowth and organ-specific dissemination of treatment resistant clones. At present, limited information is available regarding epigenetic landscapes of pulmonary metastases. This study was undertaken to characterize epigenetic signatures of pulmonary metastases and to identify potential therapeutic targets.
METHODS: RNA and DNA were extracted from 65 pulmonary metastases resected from 12 patients (5 with sarcoma, 7 with adrenocortical carcinoma). Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction techniques were used to evaluate expression levels of cancer-testis (CT) genes (NY-ESO-1, MAGE-A3, MAGE-A9, MAGE-A12, GAGE1, CT-45, SSX-1, and SSX-2), tumor suppressor (TS) genes (p16 and RASSF1A), and genes encoding epigenetic modifiers (DNMT1, DNMT3A, DNMT3B, EZH2, EED, and SUZ12), aberrantly expressed in human malignant diseases. Pyrosequencing techniques were used to quantitate DNA methylation levels in LINE1, NBL2, and D4Z4 repetitive sequences and promoter methylation status of differentially regulated genes. Results of these analyses were compared with a standardized panel of normal lung tissues.
RESULTS: Pulmonary metastases exhibited histologically related and patient-specific global DNA demethylation. Significant interpatient heterogeneity of gene expression was observed even among patients with similar tumor histologic features. Epigenetic signatures appeared consistent among metastases from the same patient, irrespective of the time of resection (synchronous/metachronous) or the anatomic location. EZH2, EED, and SUZ12 (core components of Polycomb repressive complex-2 [PRC-2]) were upregulated in the majority of metastases.
CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary metastases exhibit patient-specific epigenetic clonality, which may be exploited for precision therapies targeting aberrant CT or TS gene expression. PRC-2 may be a shared target for epigenetic therapy of pulmonary metastases.

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