Expression of the melanoma antigen-encoding gene in human lung cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We surveyed expression of melanoma antigen-encoding genes in lung cancer because of promising implications for immunotherapy. METHODS: We studied 57 human lung carcinoma specimens using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: In the samples, the expression of melanoma antigen-encoding genes 1, 2, and 3 was observed in 9/43 (20.9%), 13/43 (30.2%), and 22/48 (45.8%), respectively. In 28 cases in which all three messenger RNAs were sought, 18 (64.3%) showed expression of at least one gene, 10 (35.7%) showed expression of two or three genes, and 10 (35.7%) were negative for all three genes. In a clinicopathologic analysis, melanoma antigen-encoding genes 1 and 3 were frequently expressed in squamous cell carcinomas (P = 0.0543) and in cases with regional lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0572), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The high incidence of melanoma antigen-encoding gene expression in lung cancer indicates the possibility of a future specific immunotherapy for this disease.