Expression of cancer/testis antigens in cutaneous T cell lymphomas

Abstract

Cancer/testis-antigens (CTA), a novel and expanding family of immunogenic proteins detected by serological screening of recombinant cDNA expression libraries, encompass promising candidate targets for T-cell based immunotherapy. We screened kryo-preserved tissue of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL, n=36) such as mycosis fungoides (MF, n=17), pleomorphic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (n=8) and Sezary's syndrome (SS, n= 11) as well as a non-malignant entity (small plaques parapsoriasis, SPP, n=5), for the expression of CTA by RT-PCR and Northern blot hybridization. From a panel of eleven CTA (MAGE-1, MAGE-C1, MAGE-3, BAGE, GAGE, SSX-1, SSX-2, SSX4, SCP-1, NY-ESO-1 and TS85) (HOM-Tes-85), mRNA expression could be detected for SCP-1 in 8/17 MF and 6/8 pleomorphic CTCL patients but was completely absent in small plaques parapsoriasis. SS patients had a more heterogeneous antigen expression pattern: Gage (1/11), MAGE-1 (3/11), MAGE-3 (6/11), MAGE-C1 (5/11), NY-ESO-1 (7/11) and TS85 (5/11), with expression of MAGE-3 confirmed by immunohistochemistry. CTA could provide defined targets for antigen-based vaccination in a high percentage of cases with CTCL. SCP-1 might serve as an additional diagnostic indicator in early and clinically indistinct lesions suspicious for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.