MAGE-A: New Target of Immunotherapy for Esophageal Cancer

Melanoma-associated antigens-A(MAGE-A) are the subfamily of MAGE genes, locate in the human X chromosome and belong to cancer testis antigens(CTA), which are composed of 12 members, MAGE-A1-MAGE-A12. MAGE-A are rarely expressed in normal tissues, but frequently expressed in a variety of tumor tissues, especially highly expressed in esophageal cancer tissues and esophageal carcinoma cell lines. In addition, the peptides encoded by MAGE-A can be presented to cytotoxic T cells(CTL) by MHC Ⅰ molecules in esophageal cancer cells, which plays an important role in anti-tumor activity in a specific manner. Therefore, MAGE-A antigens are of great potential as a new target of immunotherapy in the treatment for esophageal cancer in the future.