Expression and clinical significance of NY-ESO-1 protein in human laryngeal squamous carcinoma

Abstract

Objective To detect the expression of Cancer-Testis antigen NY-ESO-1 in human laryngeal squamous carcinoma (LSC) and to explore its significance in immunotherapeutic application. Methods The expressions of NY-ESO-1 protein in the LSC and in the pathologically positive lymph nodes were detected by PV-9000 Immunohistochemistry. Western blotting was also employed to measure the expressions of NY-ESO-1 in the tumor core region(TC), the tissues at the sites of 0.5cm, 1.0cm away from LSC periphery and the distant normal larynx tissues. Results NY-ESO-1 protein expression was positive in 30 out of 69 (43.48 %) cases of LSC. The expression level of NY-ESO-1 protein were found to significantly decrease by tums in TC and corresponding adjacent tissues (P ＜0.01). None of the nine normal larynx tissues expressed NY-ESO-1 protein.It did not display an obvious correlation between the expression of NY-ESO-1 with T staging, pathological grading and lymph node metastasis (P ＞0.05). Its positive expression was found in pathologically positive cervical lymph nodes, which were significantly lower than that in the primary site (P ＜0.05). Conclusion NY-ESO-1 protein express at high level in human laryngeal squamous carcinoma, and they may play a role in genesis and development of tumors, which suggests that NY-ESO-1 gene might be used as target antigens for immunotherapy of LSC and the further research is necessary. Key words: Laryngeal neoplasm; Gene expression; Lymph nodes; NY-ESO-1 protein