title: Melanocyte lysis by cytotoxic T lymphocytes recognizing the MART-1 melanoma antigen in HLA-A2 patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.
abstract: The MART-1/Melan-A melanoma antigen recognized by the majority of HLA-A2-restricted tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes is a self antigen expressed on melanocytes and the retina. We have investigated whether Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease and sympathetic ophthalmia (SO), systemic inflammatory disorders affecting various organs containing melanocytes, are autoimmune diseases directed toward the MART-1 antigen. In two of three patients with VKH disease and one patient with SO, CD8(+) T cell clones (TCC) form intraocular fluid of HLA-A2(+) patients lysed T2 cells when pulsed with a HLA-A2-binding MART-1 peptide, but not a HLA-A2-binding pMel-17 or tyrosinase peptide, in a HLA-A2-restricted manner. In addition, Th, TCC recognizing a HLA-A2-binding MART-1 peptide were also established from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a patient with VKH disease. In contrast, either CD4(+) TCC from these patients or CD8(+) TCC from the intraocular fluid of HLA-A2(+) patients with uveitis associated with Behcet's disease or HTLV-1 uveitis did not show this cytotoxicity. The results demonstrate that the MART-1 peptide-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes lyse melanocytes in the eye of patients with VKH disease or SO, suggesting that these diseases are autoimmune diseases directed toward the MART-1 antigen in HLA-A2(+) patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugita
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sagawa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mochizuki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shichijo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D058965:MART-1 Antigen; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014607:Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D058965:MART-1 Antigen; C548667:MLANA protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins