Molecular definition of tumor antigens recognized by T lymphocytes

✍ Scribed by Pierre van der Bruggen; Benoit Van den Eynde

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 726 KB
• Volume: 4
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-7915
• DOI: 10.1016/0952-7915(92)90035-d

✦ Synopsis

Several tumor antigens recognized by T cells have now been identified at the molecular level. Various mechanisms can account for their expression: activation of normally silent genes; point mutations; chromosome translocations; and post-translational modifications of proteins. This led to the notion that potential tumor-rejection antigens can be shared by a significant proportion of human tumors. This may have important implications in cancer immunotherapy, especially since tumors expressing a defined antigen can be identified on the basis of the expression of the relevant gene.