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Melanoma Antigens

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 44 Accesses

Synonyms

Melanoma-associated antigens

Definition

Melanoma antigens are a group of tumor antigens. Proteasomal cleavage of these intracellular proteins generates small antigenic peptides. The presentation of these peptides in conjunction with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules facilitates an immune response promoting the destruction of the melanoma antigen-expressing cancer cells.

Characteristics

Background

Over the years, several reports have documented cancer patients mounting immune responses against their malignancies. Most of these cases are characterized by massive lymphocytic infiltration of the tumor tissue, which leads to the destruction of the malignant cells and eventually to either partial or complete disease remission. Compared to other human malignancies, these immunologic phenomena are most frequently observed in malignant melanomas. This observation led researchers to focus their investigations on this particular tumor. Following experiments documenting...

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References

  • Boon T, Coulie PG, Van den Eynde BJ et al (2006) Human T cell responses against melanoma. Annu Rev Immunol 24:175–208

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  • Forslund KO, Nordqvist K (2001) The melanoma antigen genes – any clues to their functions in normal tissues? Exp Cell Res 265:185–194

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  • Van der Bruggen P, Traversari C, Chomez P et al (1991) A gene encoding an antigen recognized by cytolytic T lymphocytes on a human melanoma. Science 254:1643–1647

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  • Van der Bruggen P, Stroobant V, Van Pel A et al (2006) Peptide database of T-cell defined tumor antigens. http://www.cancerimmunity.org/peptidedatabase/Tcellepitopes.htm

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA

    Tobias Peikert & Ulrich Specks

Authors
  1. Tobias Peikert
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  2. Ulrich Specks
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tobias Peikert .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Peikert, T., Specks, U. (2014). Melanoma Antigens. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_3610-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_3610-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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