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<art>
   <ui>1475-2867-4-S1-S50</ui>
   <ji>1475-2867</ji>
   <fm>
      <dochead>Poster presentation</dochead>
      <bibl>
         <title>
            <p>Identification of a novel epitope derived from the cancer-germline antigen, HAGE, displaying both in-vitro and in-vivo immunogenicity</p>
         </title>
         <aug>
            <au id="A1" ca="yes">
               <snm>Knights</snm>
               <fnm>Ashley</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
               <email>ashly.knights@uni-tuebingen.de</email>
            </au>
            <au id="A2">
               <snm>McArdle</snm>
               <fnm>Stephanie</fnm>
               <insr iid="I2"/>
            </au>
            <au id="A3">
               <snm>M&#252;ller</snm>
               <fnm>Ludmila</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
            </au>
            <au id="A4">
               <snm>Rees</snm>
               <fnm>Robert</fnm>
               <insr iid="I2"/>
            </au>
            <au id="A5">
               <snm>Pawelec</snm>
               <fnm>Graham</fnm>
               <insr iid="I1"/>
            </au>
         </aug>
         <insg>
            <ins id="I1">
               <p>Section for Transplantation Immunology and Immunohaematology, Universit&#228;tsklinikum T&#252;bingen, ZMF, Waldh&#246;rnlestr.22, D-72072 T&#252;bingen, Germany</p>
            </ins>
            <ins id="I2">
               <p>Department of Life Science, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham. NG11 8NS, UK</p>
            </ins>
         </insg>
         <source>Cancer Cell International</source>
         <supplement>
            <title>
               <p>Association for Immunotherapy of Cancer: Cancer Immunotherapy &#8211; 2<sup>nd </sup>Annual Meeting</p>
            </title>
            <note>Meeting abstracts</note>
         </supplement>
         <conference>
            <title>
               <p>Association for Immunotherapy of Cancer: Cancer Immunotherapy &#8211; 2<sup>nd </sup>Annual Meeting</p>
            </title>
            <location>Mainz, Germany</location>
            <date-range>6&#8211;7 May 2004</date-range>
            <url>http://www.c-imt.org</url>
         </conference>
         <issn>1475-2867</issn>
         <pubdate>2004</pubdate>
         <volume>4</volume>
         <issue>Suppl 1</issue>
         <fpage>S50</fpage>
         <url>http://www.cancerci.com/content/4/S1/S50</url>
         <xrefbib>
            <pubid idtype="doi">10.1186/1475-2867-4-S1-S50</pubid>
         </xrefbib>
      </bibl>
      <history>
         <rec>
            <date>
               <day>28</day>
               <month>4</month>
               <year>2004</year>
            </date>
         </rec>
         <pub>
            <date>
               <day>1</day>
               <month>7</month>
               <year>2004</year>
            </date>
         </pub>
      </history>
   </fm>
   <bdy>
      <sec>
         <st>
            <p/>
         </st>
         <p>It is now well established that both CD4+ and CD8+ tumour-specific T-lymphocytes play critical roles in anti-tumour immunity; thus there is a desirability to identify both MHC class I and II-restricted tumour antigens that induce immunogenic responses in both in-vitro models and more significantly in an in-vivo environment. Many current tumour antigens that are potential targets fall into the category of cancer-germline (CG) antigens, and are considered to represent good candidate antigens for tumour immunotherapy based on their lack of expression on normal somatic tissues. HAGE is a novel CG gene expressed in a wide range of solid tumour tissue (eg. around 20% of melanomas, one-third of lung cancers) but also in haematological malignancies (in >50% and >20% of chronic and acute myeloid leukaemias, respectively). Here we describe the use of a combination of computer algorithms to identify potentially immunogenic peptides from the HAGE protein based on both predicted HLA affinity and proteosomal cleavage sites. An HLA-A2-binding motif contained within a longer HLA-DR-binding sequence was identified. Two peptides representing either the class I motif alone, or a longer peptide containing the class I motif within the class II motif, were then screened in in-vitro T cell sensitisation experiments using PBMC or monocyte-derived dendritic cells from healthy donors or CML patients; the class I peptide was also used in-vivo to vaccinate HLA-A2-transfected mice. We demonstrate that both these peptides are immunogenic in-vitro not only for T cells from healthy donors, but also from CML patients, as assessed by functional assays such as cytokine secretion and cytotoxicity. Moreover, immunogenicity was confirmed by using MHC/peptide tetramers to show specific expansion of sensitised T-cells. Furthermore, the class I peptide also demonstrates immuno-genicity in-vivo following vaccination of HLA-A2-transfected mice. Spleen cells isolated from these mice showed specific cytotoxicity ex-vivo. We conclude that the HLA-DR-binding peptide and the HLA-A2 motif contained therein may represent potential vaccines for the immunotherapeutic treatment of cancer, particularly CML, targeting the HAGE expression of a high proportion of tumours.</p>
      </sec>
   </bdy>
</art>
