Aim: We aimed to study the relation between Cancer-testis antigen (CTA) expression pattern and recurrent spontaneous abortion through investigating the expression of MAGE-A1, MAGE-A4 and
NY-ESO-1 in first trimester villi and decidua of recurrent spontaneous abortion patients.
Material and Methods: Villous and decidual tissues were collected from 40 women (20 patients with recurrent spontaneous abortion and 20 patients with normal, early pregnancy). The localization of MAGE-A1, MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 were investigated by immunohistochemistry.
Objective: Based on these considerations, the objective of the present analysis was to identify the relation between CTA expression and recurrent spontaneous abortion. The purpose of our study is going to detect the differential expression of MAGE-A1, MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 in first-trimester villi and decidua of recurrent spontaneous abortion patients.
CTA are considered as unique and promising cancer biomarkers and targets for cancer therapy. CTAs are multifunctional protein group with specific expression patterns in normal embryonic and adult cells and various types of cancer cells. CTAs are involved in regulating the basic cellular processes during development, stem cell differentiation and carcinogenesis through the biological roles and cell functions of CTA families remain largely unclear. Analysis of CTA expression patterns in embryonic germ and somatic cells, pluripotent and multipotent stem cells, cancer stem cells and their cell descendants indicates that rearrangements of characteristic CTA profiles (aberrant expression) could be associated with cancer transformation and failure of the developmental program of cell lineage specification and germline restriction. Therefore, aberrant CTA profiles can be used as panels of biomarkers for diagnoses and the selection of cancer treatment strategies. Moreover, the most immunogenic CTAs are prospective targets for cancer immunotherapy. Clinical trials testing a broad range of cancer therapeutic vaccines against antigens of MAGEA and NY-ESO-1 families for treating various cancers have shown mixed clinical efficiency, safety and tolerability, suggesting the requirement of in-depth research of CTA expression in normal and cancer stem cells and extensive clinical trials for improving cancer immunotherapy technologies.
Considering the importance that in the last few years has obtained the study of these factors both in the cancer physiopathological knowledge and for the new therapeutic strategies, we wanted to analyze them in another pathological context, considering the already known expression at the placental level. The recurrent spontaneous abortion often remains a problem of difficult resolution. The objective of our study is to find altered expression of cancer-testis antigen and therefore our final goal is to be able to find a possible new therapeutic strategy to reduce the rate of recurrent spontaneous abortion.