title: Differential downregulation of endoplasmic reticulum-residing chaperones calnexin and calreticulin in human metastatic melanoma.
abstract: Characterization of the molecular basis of tumor recognition by T cells has shown that major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules play a crucial role in presenting antigenic peptide epitopes to cytotoxic T lymphocytes. MHC class Ia downregulation has been repeatedly described on melanoma cells and is thought to be involved in the failure of the immune system to control tumor progression. Proper assembly of MHC class I molecules is dependent on several cofactors, e.g. the chaperones calnexin and calreticulin residing in the endoplasmic reticulum. Alterations in the expression of these chaperones may have important implications for MHC class I assembly, peptide loading, and presentation on the tumor cell surface and thus may contribute to the immune escape phenotype of tumor cells. In the present study, we compared melanoma lesions representing different stages of tumor progression with regard to the expression of calnexin and calreticulin in tumor cells by means of immunohistochemistry. Metastatic melanoma lesions exhibited significant downregulation of calnexin as compared to primary melanoma lesions. In contrast, chaperone calreticulin was expressed in melanoma cells of primary as well as of metastatic lesions. Our data suggest that chaperone-downregulation, particularly calnexin-downregulation, may contribute to the metastatic phenotype of melanoma cells in vivo. Consistently, conserved chaperone expression in metastatic melanoma lesions may be a useful criterion for selection of patients for treatment with T cell-based immunotherapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University School of Medicine, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dissemond
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Busch
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kothen
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mörs
authors.forename: Tatjana K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Weimann
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lindeke
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goos
authors.forename: Stephan N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D037281:Calnexin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D037282:Calreticulin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D018450:Disease Progression; D015536:Down-Regulation; D004721:Endoplasmic Reticulum / Q000378:metabolism*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D010641:Phenotype; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D037282:Calreticulin; D037281:Calnexin