Altered Patterns of Melanoma Antigen Gene(MAGE) Expression in Benign, Premalignant and Malignant Epithelium of the Larynx / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The degree of dysplasia of premalignant lesion of the larynx is related to malignant transformation. However, no single molecular marker that could be used to predict malignant transformation has been identified. Melanoma antigen genes (MAGE), which are expressed in malignant tissues but not in normal tissues, might provide such a marker. So, we investigated MAGE expressions in the various epithelial lesions of the larynx. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Nested RT-PCR with MAGE common primers were performed to detect the expression of MAGE A genes in fresh frozen tissues obtained from laryngeal lesions (34 benign, 20 premalignant, 22 malignant epitheliums) and 12 normal oropharyngeal epitheliums. RESULTS: The expression of MAGE was positive in 12 (35.3%) of benign, 10 (50%) of premalignant, 18 (81.8%) of malignant laryngeal epithelium and 1 (8.5%) of normal epithelium. These expressions were different with statistic significance (p=0.003) between benign, premalignant and malignant laryngeal epithelium. CONCLUSION: The MAGE A expression could be utilized as a biomarker to predict malignant transformation of laryngeal epithelium.