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Cancer/Testis Antigens: Potential Targets for Immunotherapy

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Innate Immune Regulation and Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are protein antigens with normal expression restricted to adult testicular germ cells, and yet are aberrantly activated and expressed in a proportion of various types of human cancer. At least a subset of this group of antigens has been found to elicit spontaneous humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in cancer patients, raising the possibility that these antigens could be cancer vaccine targets. More than 100 CT antigen genes have been reported in the literature, with approximately 30 being members of multigene families on the X chromosome, i.e., the CT-X genes. Most CT-X genes are expressed at the spermatogonia stage of spermatogenesis, and their functions are mostly unknown. In cancer, the frequency of CT antigen expression is highly variable among different tumor types, but is more often expressed in high-grade late-stage cases in general. Cancer vaccine trials based on CT antigens, MAGE-A3 and NY-ESO-1 are currently ongoing, and these antigens may also play a role in antigen-specific adoptive T cell transfer and in the immunomodulation approach of cancer therapy.

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Abbreviations

5DC:

5-aza-2-deoxycytidine

CT:

Cancer/testis

CTL:

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte

HDAC:

Histone deacetylase

IHC:

Immunohistochemical

NSCLC:

Non-small cell lung cancer

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

SEREX:

Serological analysis of recombinant cDNA expression libraries

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Drs. Lloyd J. Old and Andy J. G. Simpson of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research for their unwavering support over the years.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New York Branch at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York, NY, USA

    Otavia L. Caballero

  2. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Yao-Tseng Chen

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  1. Otavia L. Caballero
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Correspondence to Yao-Tseng Chen .

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  1. Center for Cell & Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor Plaza 1, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Rongfu Wang

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Caballero, O.L., Chen, YT. (2012). Cancer/Testis Antigens: Potential Targets for Immunotherapy. In: Wang, R. (eds) Innate Immune Regulation and Cancer Immunotherapy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9914-6_20

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