Methylation Profile of Cancer Testis Antigens in Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Background: Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are a class of immune-stimulating antigens often overexpressed in many types of cancers. The usage of the CTAs as immunotherapy targets have been widely investigated in different cancers including melanoma, hematological malignancies, and colorectal cancer. Studies have indicated that the epigenetic regulation of the CTAs such as the methylation status may affect the expression of the CTAs. However, the report on the methylation status of the CTAs is conflicting. The general methylation profile of the CTAs, especially in colorectal cancer, is still elusive.Objective: To determine the methylation profile of the selected CTAs in our colorectal cancer patients.Methods: A total of 54 pairs of colorectal cancer samples were subjected to DNA methylation profiling using the Infinium Human Methylation 450K bead chip.Results: We found that most of the CTAs were hypomethylated, and CCNA1 and TMEM108 genes were among the few CTAs that were hypermethylated.Conclusion: Overall, our brief report has managed to show the overall methylation profile in over the 200 CTAs in colorectal cancer and this could be used for further refining any immunotherapy targets.

Keywords

• cancer-testis antigen
• cancer vaccine
• epigenetics
• immunotherapy
• tumor-associated antigen