Schultz, Erwin S
[UCL]
Lethé, Bernard
[UCL]
Cambiaso, Cesar L
[UCL]
Van Snick, Jacques
[UCL]
Chaux, Pascal
[UCL]
Corthals, Jurgen
[UCL]
Heirman, Carlo
[UCL]
Thielemans, Kris
[UCL]
Boon, Thierry
[UCL]
van der Bruggen, Pierre
[UCL]
Antigens encoded by MAGE-A3 and recognized by T cells are interesting targets for tumor immunotherapy because they are strictly tumor specific and shared by many tumors of various histological types. A number of MAGE-A3 antigenic peptides presented by HLA class I molecules have been used in clinical trials, and regressions of melanoma metastasis have been observed. We report here the identification of a MAGE-A3 epitope, TQHFVQENYLEY, presented to CD4+ T lymphocytes by HLA-DP4 molecules, which are expressed in approximately 76% of Caucasians. This new epitope may be useful both for therapeutic vaccination and for the evaluation of the immune response in cancer patients. Interest ingly, the CD4+ T cells lysed HLA-DP4 tumor cells expressing MAGE-A3, indicating that this epitope, in contrast to other class-II MAGE-A3 epitopes, is presented at the surface of tumor cells. The study of this disparity in the presentation of two epitopes from the same protein may lead to a better understanding of the endogenous class II presentation pathway.
Bibliographic reference |
Schultz, Erwin S ; Lethé, Bernard ; Cambiaso, Cesar L ; Van Snick, Jacques ; Chaux, Pascal ; et. al. A MAGE-A3 peptide presented by HLA-DP4 is recognized on tumor cells by CD4+ cytolytic T lymphocytes.. In: Cancer Research, Vol. 60, no. 22, p. 6272-5 (2000) |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/141105 |