title: A novel cancer testis antigen that is frequently expressed in pancreatic, lung, and endometrial cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To isolate cancer testis antigens that are expressed in pancreatic cancers and may be useful in clinical applications.
  
  
  METHODS
  To efficiently isolate cancer testis antigens, a testis cDNA library was immunoscreened (SEREX) with serum from a patient with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. The expression of isolated antigens in various cancer cell lines and tissues was evaluated by reverse transcription-PCR and Northern blot analyses. The immunogenicity of the antigen in cancer patients was evaluated by detection of the IgG antibody in sera from patients with various cancers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the three clones isolated through screening of a total of 2 x 10(6) cDNA library clones, one clone (KU-CT-1) was found to be expressed in various cancers but only in testis among normal tissues, indicating that it was a novel cancer testis antigen. The KU-CT-1 gene is located on chromosome 10p12 and produces two splice variants, which encode proteins of 397 and 872 amino acids, respectively. KU-CT-1 was expressed in pancreatic cancer tissues (3 of 9, 33%), lung cancer tissues (9 of 24, 38%), and endometrial cancer tissues (7 of 11, 64%). Specific serum IgG antibodies were detected in 3 of 20 pancreatic cancer patients, 2 of 12 endometrial cancer patients, 1 of 18 colon cancer patients, and 1 of 10 prostate cancer patients but not detected in 30 healthy individuals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  KU-CT-1 is a new cancer testis antigen that is expressed in pancreatic, lung, and endometrial cancers and may be useful for diagnosis and immunotherapy for patients with various cancers.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cellular Signaling, Institute for Advanced Medical Research, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takaho
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akada
authors.forename: Tomonobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwata
authors.forename: Yasufumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Goto
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsuzaki
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Seiki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuno
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sunamura
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawakami
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015723:Gene Library; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D010190:Pancreatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013737:Testis / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins