Immune Surveillance Tissue Antigen Profiling in Advanced Ovarian Cancer. Journal Article

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Authors: Stiff, Patrick J.; Potkul, Ronald K.; Venkataraman, Girish; Sojitra, Payal; Drakes, Maureen L.
Article Title: Immune Surveillance Tissue Antigen Profiling in Advanced Ovarian Cancer.
Abstract: A study of 69 paraffin-embedded ovarian tumor blocks revealed that CD3 infiltrating T cells positively correlated with survival, melanoma-associated antigen A antigen expression correlated with poor outcome, and high numbers of FoxP3 cells correlated with advanced disease. Identification of parameters associated with survival will contribute toward the development of tests for early diagnosis and to the design of modern therapies in ovarian cancer. Aim: A knowledge of tumor-related antigens associated with survival of patients with ovarian cancer could contribute toward the development of tests for early diagnosis and could provide targets for the design of novel immunotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer. We conducted a pilot immunohistochemical study to determine a group of antigens in ovarian tumor masses that correlate with survival. Methods: We studied T-cell subsets and tumor antigens on 69 cases of paraffin-embedded patient blocks to determine if any correlated with survival in this disease. These were identified by staining for CD3, CD8, FoxP3, New York esophageal-1 (NY-ESO-1), melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE) A, cyclin E, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) antigens in tissue when using specific antibodies. Results: Study patients had a median age of 58 years and an overall survival of 31%. Infiltrating CD3+ T cells correlated with improved survival of patients (P = .002, log-rank test). The frequency of cyclin E, ICAM-1, CD8, and FoxP3 expressing cells were not statistically associated with survival. MAGE-A was expressed in 10 (45%) of 22 whole-tissue sections studied, and this expression correlated with decreased survival (P = .03, log-rank test). The presence and frequency of FoxP3 infiltrating suppressor T cells was associated with high-stage disease (P = .02, x2 test; P = .03, Wilcoxon test). Conclusions: The significance of CD3 T cells in tumor tissue may be primarily associated with an active antitumor immune response. MAGE-A family members may represent successful antigens for immunotherapeutic targeting in ovarian cancer.
Journal Title: Clinical Ovarian Other Gynecologic Cancer
Publisher: Unknown  
Date Published: 2012