Background & objective: Recent studies revealed a possible close association between the expression of some members of tumor-specific antigen MAGE (melanoma antigen) family and actively proliferated infantile cells. But the correlation of MAGE-A1 expression with proliferation of tumor cells and immune response at host local site has not been reported to date. Our study was to investigate the expression of MAGE-A1 in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), and its relationship with Ki-67 expression, tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) response, histologic grade, and pathological type.
Methods: Thirty NSCLC samples in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections were examined for MAGE-A1, Ki-67 and TIL response using SP immunohistochemical technique.
Results: The positive expression rate of MAGE-A1 was 80.00%(24/30) with high expression rate of 58.33%(14/24) and low expression rate of 41.67%(10/24). The positive expression rate of Ki-67 was 93.33%(28/30) with high expression rate of 57.14%(16/28) and low expression rate of 42.86% (12/28). TIL response was observed in 22 patients. There was a significant relationship between MAGE-A1 positive expression and Ki-67 positive expression (rs=0.578, P< 0.005), as well as between MAGE-A1 positive expression and TIL response (rs=0.505, P< 0.005). However, MAGE-A1 expression was not significantly correlated with histologic grade and pathological type (P >0.05).
Conclusion: The NSCLC cells with MAGE-A1 positive expression possess high proliferation activity; meanwhile, the up-regulation of MAGE-A1 indicates the increase of antigen in tumor cells and the increase of local TIL response, indicating that MAGE-A1 may have potential to be used as a target for immunotherapy in NSCLC patient.