Based on the analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, melanoma-associated antigen A3 (MAGEA3) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) LINC01234 were upregulated in HCC and associated with poor prognosis of HCC.
Though Melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE) family genes have received lots of attention as cancer-related genes and targets for immunotherapy, MAGE-D4 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not yet been evaluated.
In contrast, MAGE-A1 mRNA expression was not detected in the hepatoma cell lines HepG2215, HepG2, QGY-7701, and Huh7, which showed moderate to high levels of differentiation.