NY-ESO-1 antigen expression as a prognostic factor for soft tissue sarcomas.

11075Background: While a number of antigens are known to be expressed in soft tissue sarcomas, little is known about the prognosis of patients with such tumors. Recent data have demonstrated immunologic activity in sarcoma patients expressing the NY-ESO antigen, found positive in 20-80% cases. MAGE A3 has also recently attracted attention with regard to soft tissue sarcomas. In our study we aimed to assess any association between antigen expression and prognosis. Methods: In a case-control study we retrospectively collected data from a prospective database of all 137 patients with sarcomas receiving first line therapy in the Petrov Research Institute of Oncology in Saint-Petersburg. All cases were morphologically verified, with mRNA expression of NY-ESO-1, MAGE A3, PDGFR A, PDGFR B, beta-tubullin and top2alpha additionally being tested by quantitative real-time PCR in a subset of patients. The log-rank test was applied to compare Kaplan-Mayer estimates of progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) b...