Background and objectives: Cancer-testis (CT) antigens are a group of antigens with a restricted expression in normal tissues, except testis, and they have aberrant expression in different tumors. This pattern of expression has made them promising targets for immunotherapy and cancer detection. Our aim was to find new members of this group that might be useful as markers in the detection of cancer and immunotherapy.
Design and setting: A descriptive study conducted in referral centers of Tehran University of Medical Science from January 2008 to January 2009.
Patients and methods: We analyzed the expression of two testis-specific genes named ODF4 (outer dense fiber of sperm tails 4) and TEX101 (testis expressed 101) in 20 chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and 20 normal samples by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and sequencing. Immunogenicity of TEX101 was evaluated by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results: These two genes were expressed in 30% of CML patients but not in any of the healthy donors. Humoral response against TEX101 was not detected in any samples.
Conclusions: TEX101 and ODF4 are CT genes useful for detection of CML. Unlike many CT genes, overexpression of TEX101 was not shown to induce immunologic responses in these samples. According to the previous studies, overexpression of TEX101 leads to suppression of cancer invasion and metastasis; thus, the induction of the expression of TEX101 in cancer by epigenetic mechanisms may be a treatment strategy.