PRAME, a gene encoding an antigen recognized on a human melanoma by cytolytic T cells, is expressed in acute leukaemia cells.
Gene PRAME was found to encode an antigen recognized on a human melanoma cell line by an autologous cytolytic T-lymphocyte clone. This gene is expressed at a high level in a very large fraction of tumours, such as melanomas, non-small-cell lung carcinomas, sarcomas, head and neck tumours and renal carcinomas. It is therefore a candidate for tumour immunotherapy even though some low expression is found in certain normal tissues. We tested by RT-PCR the expression of PRAME on more than 250 bone marrow or blood samples from patients with a haematological malignancy. Approximately 25% of the acute leukaemia samples were positive. Remarkably, all acute myeloblastic leukaemias that carried the chromosomal translocation t(8;21), which fuses the genes AML1 and ETO, expressed PRAME at a high level.
van Baren
N
N
Cellular Genetics Unit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium.
Chambost
H
H
Ferrant
A
A
Michaux
L
L
Ikeda
H
H
Millard
I
I
Olive
D
D
Boon
T
T
Coulie
P G
PG
D000208:Acute Disease; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000378:metabolism*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm