title: Frequencies of HER-2/neu overexpression relating to HLA haplotype in patients with gastric cancer.
abstract: We have identified that HER-2/neu-derived peptides are naturally processed as tumor rejection antigens recognized by tumor-specific, HLA-A2-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes in gastric cancer. To evaluate candidates for immunotherapy using HER-2/neu-derived, HLA-A2-restricted peptides, we examined the frequency of HLA-A2 relating to HER-2/neu overexpression or the infiltrating grade of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in Japanese patients with gastric cancer. HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumors detected by immunohistochemistry amounted to 19% of primary gastric cancers and HLA-A2-positive patients with gastric cancer were 31% of primary gastric-cancer cases. Finally, gastric-cancer patients with both HLA-A2-positive and HER-2/neu-overexpressing tumors amounted to 6.6% of these cases. There was no significant difference in the infiltrating grade of TILs between gastric cancers overexpressing HER-2/neu and those that did not. The candidate for HER-2/neu-based immunotherapy with HLA-A2-restricted peptides represent a very limited population of Japanese patients.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Surgery, Yamanashi Medical University, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. kojikono@res.yamanashi-med.ac.jp
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kono
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Amemiya
authors.forename: Fumiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ichihara
authors.forename: Hidemitsu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugai
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iizuka
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: Yoshiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005787:Gene Frequency; D006680:HLA Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006680:HLA Antigens; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases