Using in silico transcriptomics to search for tumor-associated antigens for immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy approaches to fight cancer are based on the principle of mounting an immune response against a self-antigen expressed by the tumor cells. In order to reduce potential autoimmunity side-effects, the antigens used should be as tumor-specific as possible. A complementary approach to experimental tumor antigen discovery is to screen the human genome in silico, particularly the databases of "Expressed Sequence Tags" (ESTs), in search of tumor-specific and tumor-associated antigens. The public databases currently provide a massive amount of ESTs from several hundreds of cDNA tissue libraries, including tumoral tissues from various types. We describe a novel method of EST database screening that allows new potential tumor-associated genes to be efficiently selected. The resulting list of candidates is enriched in known genes, described as being expressed in tumor cells.
Glaxo SmithKline Biologicals, 89 rue de l'Institut, 1330, Rixensart, Belgium. carla.vinals@sbbio.be
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D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005260:Female; D005820:Genetic Testing; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D009857:Oncogenes; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines