title: Immune responses to the HLA-A*0201-restricted epitopes of tyrosinase and glycoprotein 100 enable control of melanoma outgrowth in HLA-A*0201-transgenic mice.
abstract: Many of the Ags recognized by human melanoma-reactive CTL are derived from proteins that are also expressed in melanocytes. The possibility of self-tolerance to these epitopes has led to questions about their utility for antitumor immunotherapy. To investigate the issue, we established a preclinical model based on transgenic mice expressing a recombinant HLA-A*0201 molecule and B16 melanoma transfected to express this molecule. HLA-A*0201-restricted epitopes from the melanocyte differentiation proteins (MDP) tyrosinase and gp100 are expressed in both tumor cells and melanocytes, and the former is associated with self-tolerance. However, adoptive transfer of tyrosinase or gp100-reactive CTL developed from tolerant mice delayed tumor outgrowth, as did immunization with MDP peptide-pulsed dendritic cells. Protection was enhanced by the use of peptide ligands containing conservative substitutions that were cross-reactive with the original Ags. These data establish that CTL populations reactive against MDP-derived self-Ags can be activated to mount effective antitumor immunity and strongly support their continued development for tumor immunotherapy in humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Carter Immunology Center, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.forename: T N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Bullock
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Colella
authors.forename: V V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Robila
authors.forename: V H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Engelhard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000939:Epitopes; D015234:HLA-A Antigens / Q000502:physiology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000628:therapy*; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000276:immunology*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D058951:gp100 Melanoma Antigen
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015234:HLA-A Antigens; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C548637:PMEL protein, human; C548642:Pmel protein, mouse; D058951:gp100 Melanoma Antigen; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase