Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2020; 26(4): 424-432
Published online Jan 28, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i4.424
Cancer/testis antigen, Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 and ABCD stratification for diagnosing gastric cancers
Akiko Shida, Takashi Fukuyama, Nobue Futawatari, Haruki Ohmiya, Yoshinobu Ichiki, Tetsuro Yamashita, Yatsushi Nishi, Noritada Kobayashi, Hitoshi Yamazaki, Masahiko Watanabe, Yoshihito Takahashi
Akiko Shida, Division of Pathology, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan
Takashi Fukuyama, Noritada Kobayashi, Division of Biomedical Research, Kitasato University Medical Center, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-8501, Japan
Nobue Futawatari, Division of Surgery, Toho University, Ohashi Medical Center, Meguroku, Tokyo 153-8515, Japan
Haruki Ohmiya, Tetsuro Yamashita, Department of Biological Chemistry and Food Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka, Iwate 020-8505, Japan
Yoshinobu Ichiki, Department of General Thoracic Surgery, National Hospital Organization Saitama Hospital, Wako, Saitama 364-8501, Japan
Yatsushi Nishi, Yoshihito Takahashi, Division of Surgery, Kitasato University Medical Center, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-8501, Japan
Hitoshi Yamazaki, Division of Pathology, Kitasato University Medical Center, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-8501, Japan
Masahiko Watanabe, Division of Surgery, Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-0374, Japan
Author contributions: Shida A and Fukuyama T designed the research; Shida A, Fukuyama T, Futawatari N, Yamazaki H, Ichiki Y, Takahashi Y, Nishi Y, Kobayashi N and Watanabe M performed the research; Fukuyama T, Haruki Ohmiya and Tetsuro Yamashita performed statistical analysis; Shida A and Fukuyama T wrote the paper.
Supported by Grant-in-Aid for research by the Kitasato University Medical Center, No. H26-008; the JSPS KAKENHI, No. 17K16578; Takeda Science Foundation; Kitasato University Research Grant for Young Researchers; Grant-in-Aid for research from the Kitasato University Medical Center, No. H25-0006; and the JSPS KAKENHI, No. 26670609.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was approved by the Human Ethics Review Committee of Kitasato University Medical Center, Japan
Informed consent statement: All study patients were not to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical date that were obtained after each patient agreed to use surgical specimen for researches by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Takashi Fukuyama, PhD, Investigator, Division of Biomedical research, Kitasato University Medical Center, 6-100 Arai, Kitamoto, Saitama 364-8501, Japan. fukuyam@insti.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Received: November 23, 2019
Peer-review started: November 23, 2019
First decision: December 12,2019
Revised: December 23, 2019
Accepted: January 11, 2020
Article in press: January 11, 2020
Published online: January 28, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

The ABCD stratification [(combination of serum pepsinogen (PG) levels and titers of antibody (immunoglobulin G, IgG) against Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)] is effective for the classification of individuals at risk of developing gastric cancer (GC). The Kita–Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) is a Cancer/Testis antigen frequently expressed in GC.

AIM

To evaluate the effectiveness of KK-LC-1 and ABCD stratification in the diagnosis of GC.

METHODS

We analyzed the gene expression of KK-LC-1 in surgical specimens obtained from GC tumors. The levels of serum PG I/PG II and IgG against H. pylori were measured. According to their serological status, the patients were classified into the four groups of the ABCD stratification.

RESULTS

Of the 77 examined patients, 63 (81.8%) expressed KK-LC-1. The IgG titers of H. pylori and PG II were significantly higher in patients expressing KK-LC-1 than those measured in patients not expressing KK-LC-1 (P = 0.0289 and P = 0.0041, respectively). The expression of KK-LC-1 in group C [PG method (+)/H. pylori infection (+)] was as high as 93.9% high. KK-LC-1 was also detected in group A [-/-].

CONCLUSION

The KK-LC-1 expression in GC was associated with H. pylori infection and atrophic status, so that, KK-LC-1 may be a useful marker for the diagnosis of GC.

Keywords: Gastric cancer, Tumor antigen, Cancer/testis antigen, Kita–Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1, Helicobacter pylori, Early detection of cancer

Core tip: Kita-Kyushu lung cancer antigen-1 (KK-LC-1) is a relatively later cancer-testis antigen and is recently elevated the interest because Stevanovic et al reported in Science 2017 that KK-LC-1 was predominant antigen for cancer immunotherapy. This study investigated that KK-LC-1 expression in gastric cancer (GC) relevant to ABCD stratification and its indexes to indicate the risk of GC appearing. KK-LC-1 expression was correlated with Helicobacter pylori, immunoglobulin G, and pepsinogen II. KK-LC-1 was frequently expressed group C of ABCD stratification, meaning that ABCD stratification would be also useful for GC expressing KK-LC-1, which is the target for cancer immunotherapy.