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Expression of cancer testis antigens in thymic epithelial tumors
Author(s) -
Sakane Tadashi,
Murase Takayuki,
Okuda Katsuhiro,
Masaki Ayako,
Nakanishi Ryoichi,
Inagaki Hiroshi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
pathology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1827
pISSN - 1320-5463
DOI - 10.1111/pin.13103
Subject(s) - malignancy , immunohistochemistry , thymoma , antigen , pathology , thymic carcinoma , cancer , biology , cancer research , medicine , immunology
Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are detected in cancer cells but not in healthy normal tissues, with the exception of gametogenic tissues. However, to our knowledge, expression of the antigens in thymic epithelial tumors has not been examined yet. We examined the immunohistochemical expression of five CTAs (MAGE‐A, NY‐ESO‐1, MAGE‐C1, SAGE and GAGE7) in 192 cases of thymic epithelial tumor. The CTAs were variably expressed in the thymic epithelial tumors. Type B component of type AB thymomas, type B1/B2/B3 thymomas, and thymic carcinomas showed a generally positive correlation between the malignancy grades and positive expression rates in four CTAs other than MAGE‐C1. In thymic squamous cell carcinomas (SqCCs), four antigens except for MAGE‐C1 showed high expression rates ranging from 23.1% to 43.6%. In the prognostic analysis, a positive expression of SAGE ( P = 0.0485) and GAGE7 ( P = 0.0289) were associated with a shorter overall survival in type B2/B3 thymomas, respectively. In thymic SqCC, a positive MAGE‐A expression was significantly associated with an increased level of programmed death ligand in tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes ( P = 0.0181). We showed (i) a frequent CTA expression, (ii) a general correlation of CTA expression with tumor malignancy grades and (iii) a prognostic impact in some of the CTAs.