Identification of MAGE-A family genes in colon cancer patients and their expression mechanism

Abstract

Colon cancer (CC) is a more frequent cancer type among men and is the third one among women. Cancer testis (CT) genes are classically expressed in the testes during postnatal life. However, they may be abnormally expressed in several types of cancers. The general purpose of this study was to look at the expressions of MAGE-A family genes, an example of the CT gene, in several patients with CC to evaluate whether they may be used as cancer biomarkers in the early stages of cancer identification and improve treatment options.In this study, MAGE-A family genes were examined using RT-PCR in 10 matching CC and normal colon (NC) samples. Also, the influence of DNA demethylation on the expression status of MAGE-A genes was assessed by treating the human CC cell lines with different doses of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 µM) for 48 or 72 h.All MAGE-A family gene results had faint bands in different samples of NC tissues, except for MAGE-A1. MAGE-A2, MAGE-A3, MAGE-A4, MAGE-A6, MAGE-A8, MAGE-A9, MAGE-A10, MAGE-A11, and MAGE-A12 genes were observed in 20 %, 60 %, 50 %, 80 %, 90 %, 60 %, 40 %, 30 %, and 40 % of the NC samples, respectively. However, they had strong bands in multiple samples of CC tissues with 80 %, 70 %, 60 %, 100 %, 100 %, 80 %, 60 %, 30 %, and 70 % of CC samples, respectively. Interestingly, MAGE-A1 was detected in 50 % of CC tissues but not in NC tissues, making this gene a suitable potential biomarker for early CC diagnosis. No expression of MAGE-A1 was detected in the Caco-2 cells after 48 h of treatment. However, the MAGE-A1 gene had faint bands after treatment of Caco-2 cells with 1–10 µM of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine for 72 h. In HCT116 cells, the MAGE-A1 gene had faint bands after 48 h and moderate-intensity bands 72 h after treating cells with 1–10 µM of -aza-2′-deoxycytidine. MAGE-A3 and MAGE-A4 were expressed after treating the Caco-2 cells with 1–10 µM 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine for 48 or 72 h. Further protein-level tests and a larger cohort of patients are needed to assess this finding.