Identification of multiple cancer/testis antigens by allogeneic antibody screening of a melanoma cell line library

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1998 Jun 9;95(12):6919-23. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.12.6919.

Abstract

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens-immunogenic protein antigens that are expressed in testis and a proportion of diverse human cancer types-are promising targets for cancer vaccines. To identify new CT antigens, we constructed an expression cDNA library from a melanoma cell line that expresses a wide range of CT antigens and screened the library with an allogeneic melanoma patient serum known to contain antibodies against two CT antigens, MAGE-1 and NY-ESO-1. cDNA clones isolated from this library identified four CT antigen genes: MAGE-4a, NY-ESO-1, LAGE-1, and CT7. Of these four, only MAGE-4a and NY-ESO-1 proteins had been shown to be immunogenic. LAGE-1 is a member of the NY-ESO-1 gene family, and CT7 is a newly defined gene with partial sequence homology to the MAGE family at its carboxyl terminus. The predicted CT7 protein, however, contains a distinct repetitive sequence at the 5' end and is much larger than MAGE proteins. Our findings document the immunogenicity of LAGE-1 and CT7 and emphasize the power of serological analysis of cDNA expression libraries in identifying new human tumor antigens.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Antibodies / immunology*
  • Antigens / genetics
  • Antigens / immunology
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / genetics*
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology*
  • DNA, Complementary / analysis
  • DNA, Complementary / genetics
  • Gene Library
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Melanoma / genetics*
  • Melanoma / immunology
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Testis / immunology*
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Antigens
  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • DNA, Complementary

Associated data

  • GENBANK/AF056334