Expression of cancer-testis antigen CT10 gene mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and prediction of HLA - A2 restricted CTL epitopes of CT10

Objective To investigate the expression of cancer-testis antigen CT10 gene mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and predict the HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes of CT10. Methods The expression of CT10 mRNA was detected by using RT - PCR in HCC tissues and the corresponding adjacent non-HCC tissues from 45 HCC patients, among those 3 samples selected randomly from CT10 PCR positive products were sequenced. HLA - A2-restricted CTL epitopes of CT10 was predicted by peptide supermotif prediction combined with quantitative motif. Results CT10 mRNA was detectable in 19/45 (42. 2%) of HCC samples, while the corresponding adjacent non-HCC tissue were all negative in expression of CT10 mRNA. In addition, The DNA sequence confirmed that the RT- PCR products were truly CT10 cDNA. No June 2003 Vol12 No2 relationship was found between the expression of CT10 and demographic and clinical features such as age, sex, tumor size, degree of tumor differentiation, serum α-fetoprotein level and infection of hepatitis B virus or

Objective To investigate the expression of cancer-testis antigen CT10 gene mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma and predict the HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes of CT10. Methods The expression of CT10 mRNA was detected by using RT - PCR in HCC tissues and the corresponding adjacent non-HCC tissues from 45 HCC patients, among those 3 samples selected randomly from CT10 PCR positive products were sequenced. HLA - A2-restricted CTL epitopes of CT10 was predicted by peptide supermotif prediction combined with quantitative motif. Results CT10 mRNA was detectable in 19/45 (42. 2%) of HCC samples, while the corresponding adjacent non-HCC tissue were all negative in expression of CT10 mRNA. In addition, The DNA sequence confirmed that the RT- PCR products were truly CT10 cDNA. No June 2003 Vol12 No2 relationship was found between the expression of CT10 and demographic and clinical features such as age, sex, tumor size, degree of tumor differentiation, serum α-fetoprotein level and infection of hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus (P>0. 05). Nine HLA - A2-restricted CTL epitopes of CT10 were found. Conclusion CT10 mRNA is expressed with a high percentage and specificity in hepatocellular carcinomas. The CT10 gene product is potential target for antigen-specific immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma. 3 refs,1 fig.