Aim: To detect the expression of melanoma antigen-1 and -3 genes (MAGE-1 and MAGE-3) and explore its significance in immunotherapeutic application.
Methods: The expression of MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 in gastric cancer, para-tumorous normal mucosa, and gastric biopsy tissues were detected by RT-PCR. The target genes in RT-PCR product were verified by means of DNA sequencing.
Results: MAGE-1 expression was positive in 26 out of 36 (72.22%) cases of gastric cancer, MAGE-3 positive in 25 out of 36(69.44%), and both MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 positive in 19 out of 36 (52.78%). Positive expression rates of MAGE-1, MAGE-3 and both MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 were 47.22%, 44.44% and 30.55%, respectively in para-tumorous normal mucosa, while 29.73%, 27.03% and 8.1% in gastric biopsy tissues The positive rates of MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 gene expressions in tumor tissues was significant higher than those its parallelism mucosae and biopsy tissues from chronic gastritis. The expressions of MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 genes in tumor tissues were relevant to intruded depth and the differentiated degree of tumor cells (P<0.05).
Conclusion: MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 protein may be used as targets molecules of immunotherapy for gastric cancer and indexes for follow-up study of chronic gastritis as well.