Expression of MAGE-A1 in human glioma and its clinical significance

To explore the relationship between the expression of melanoma antigen A1 (MAGE- Al) and the malignant level of human glioma, the expression of MAGE-Al was examined in 48 tumor tissue samples of glioma patients, 2 human glioma cell lines and 6 normal human brain tissue samples by immunohistochemistry. Flow cytometry analysis and fluorescence microscopy were employed to detect the expression of MAGE-A1 in two glioma cell lines U87 and SHG-44 after indirect fluorescent staining. The results showed that the percentage of MAGE-A1 expression in glioma samples with malignancy of grades I-IV was 25.0%, 29.4%, 38.5% and 50.0%, respectively, whereas there was no expression of MAGE-Al in normal human brain tissues. Furthermore, the expression rates of MAGE-Al in U87 and SHG-44 cell lines were 77.3% and 95.8%, respectively. These data suggest that MAGE-A1 is expressed by human gliomas cells and is correlated with the malignancy grade of the glioma. (authors)