Abstract:
Objective To investigate the expression of melanoma antigen (MAGE) -As in lung adenocarcinoma(LAC) tissues, and to explore their correlation with clinical biological indicators and prognostic factors.
Methods We collected cancerous and adjacent lung cancer tissue specimens from 80 patients with lung cancer who were surgically treated in the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University. Testicular tissues (n=5) were collected from the patients with prostate cancer as positive control in the same time. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to assess the expression of MAGE-As in carcinoma and adjacent tissues.
Results MAGE-As protein were not expressed in adjacent tissues, the positive expression rate of MAGE-As protein in LAC tissues was 46.25%(37/80). No correlation was found between MAGE-As protein expression and age, gender, histological grade, clinical stage, tumor size, lymph node metastasis in LAC patients (P > 0.05). Log rank test showed that the survival time of LAC patients with positive MAGE-As expression was lower than that of negative ones (P=0.007). Multivariate analysis results showed that MAGE-As expression, age and clinical stage were independent risk factors of LAC.
Conclusion MAGE-As proteins are LAC-associated antigens, thus, they have potentially diagnostic and prognostic significance in clinical settings.