We have identified that HER-2/neu-derived peptides are naturally processed as tumor rejection antigens recognized by tumor-specific, HLA-A2-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes in gastric cancer. To evaluate candidates for immunotherapy using HER-2/neu-derived, HLA-A2-restricted peptides, we examined the frequency of HLA-A2 relating to HER-2/neu overexpression or the infiltrating grade of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in Japanese patients with gastric cancer. HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumors detected by immunohistochemistry amounted to 19% of primary gastric cancers and HLA-A2-positive patients with gastric cancer were 31% of primary gastric-cancer cases. Finally, gastric-cancer patients with both HLA-A2-positive and HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumors amounted to 6.6% of these cases. There was no significant difference in the infiltrating grade of TILs between gastric cancers overexpressing HER-2/neu and those that did not. The candidate for HER-2/neu-based immunotherapy with HLA-A2-restricted peptides represent a very limited population of Japanese patients.
Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.