Definition of the T Cell-Mediated Immune Response to Mammaglobin, a Novel Breast Cancer-Associated Protein
Abstract
Characterization of the immune responses to cancer associated antigens is considered to be important in the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of breast cancer (BC). Recent advances in our basic understanding of antigen recognition by T lymphocytes has led to the definition of several human tumor-associated antigens (TAA) recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). However, it has been noted that the expression of these TAAs is relatively low in BC tumor cells. A new protein named mammaglobin has been demonstrated to be exclusively expressed in the mammary epithelium. In addition, 90% of primary BC tumors have detectable levels of mammaglobin protein. Given the exclusive mammaglobin expression in BC tumors, this novel protein may prove to be a highly specific TAA that could be utilized in the near future for in vitro BC-specific activation of CTLs. During the award period, we have demonstrated that mammaglobin is antigenic and breast cancer patients have T cells in their circulation capable of recognizing this protein. Further, we have identified mammaglobin-derived antigenic peptides that are highly expressed in BC tumor tissue and are recognized by human CTLs. These findings offer many exciting avenues both towards its use for prognostic purposes as well as developing new therapeutic options for the treatment of BC.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA410575
Entities
People
- Thalachallour Mohanakumar
Organizations
- Washington University in St. Louis