Immunotherapy for adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands: Cancer/testis antigens and 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine

Abstract

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands is the epithelial tumor. There are amount of malignant occurrences of adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands in the head and neck area. Cancer/testis antigens can be found in various malignant tumors, normal adult testis and occasionally placenta, but not in the other normal adult tissues. This characteristic makes Cancer/testis antigens as potential markers to be applied in immunotherapeutic strategies against cancer. It has been shown that in different tumors, the expression of certain Cancer/testis antigens is activated treated with 5-aza-CdR via the demethylation of their promoter CpG islands. It is logical that multiple Cancer/testis antigens may correlate with the clinicopathologic factors of adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands and be the potential markers of prognosis treated with 5-aza-CdR. So the hypothesis will provide the new direction that we can use Cancer/testis antigens as candidate antigens for adenoid cystic carcinoma of salivary glands immunotherapy due to the high expression rate activated with 5-aza-CdR.