Usefulness of cancer-testis antigens as biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-3

Journal of Translational Medicine

Volume 5

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Grizzi F
Franceschini B
Hamrick C
Frezza EE
Cobos E
Chiriva-Internati M

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Franceschini B
Hamrick C
Frezza EE
Cobos E
Chiriva-Internati M
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Usefulness of cancer-testis antigens as biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Fabio Grizzi¹ , Barbara Franceschini¹ , Cody Hamrick²^,4 , Eldo E Frezza²^,3 , Everardo Cobos²^,4 and Maurizio Chiriva-Internati²^,4

¹Laboratories of Quantitative Medicine, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milan, Italy

²Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Southwest Cancer Treatment and Research Center, 3601 4th St., 79430 Lubbock, Texas, USA

³Department of Surgery, Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Southwest Cancer Treatment and Research Center, 3601 4th St., 79430 Lubbock, Texas, USA

⁴Department of Hematology & Oncology, Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Southwest Cancer Treatment and Research Center, 3601 4th St., 79430 Lubbock, Texas, USA

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Translational Medicine 2007, 5:3doi:10.1186/1479-5876-5-3


Published:	23 January 2007

Abstract

Despite advances in our cellular and molecular knowledge, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the major public health problems throughout the world. It is now known to be highly heterogeneous: it encompasses various pathological entities and a wide range of clinical behaviors, and is underpinned by a complex array of gene alterations that affect supra-molecular processes.

Four families of HCC tumour markers have been recently proposed: a) onco-fetal and glycoprotein antigens; b) enzymes and iso-enzymes; c) cytokines and d) genes. A category of tumour-associated antigens called cancer-testis (CT) antigens has been identified and their encoding genes have been extensively investigated. CT antigens are expressed in a limited number of normal tissues as well as in malignant tumors of unrelated histological origin, including the liver. Given that cancers are being recognized as increasingly complex, we here review the role of CT antigens as liver tumour biomarkers and their validation process, and discuss why they may improve the effectiveness of screening HCC patients and help in determining the risk of developing HCC.