title: Identification of a melanoma marker derived from melanoma-associated endogenous retroviruses.
abstract: We previously described the expression of melanoma-associated endogenous retrovirus (MERV) proteins and viral particles in human melanomas and metastases. The objective of the present study was to determine whether a humoral immune response to MERV proteins occurs in melanoma. Candidate B-cell epitopes on MERV proteins were predicted using bioinformatic screening. The reactivity of MERV peptides corresponding to the predicted epitopes with antibodies prevalent in sera of melanoma patients was analyzed. An immunodominant peptide located in the env protein of MERV was identified. Subsequent analyzes using 81 samples from stage I to stage IV melanoma patients and 95 sera from healthy subjects revealed statistically significant differences in seroprevalence of antibodies in melanoma sera samples when compared with reference samples from healthy subjects. The prevalence of anti-MERV antibodies in melanoma patient sera was confirmed by immunofluorescence on env-transfected cells. These data indicate the potential of this candidate peptide as target for diagnosis and immunotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Division of General Dermatology, Green Hills Biotechnology GmbH, Gersthoferstrasse 29-31, 1180 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Humer
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waltenberger
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grassauer
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurz
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valencak
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rapberger
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hahn
authors.forename: Roswitha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Löwer
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muster
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mayer
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pehamberger
mesh_terms: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000276:immunology*; D003429:Cross Reactions; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000276:immunology*; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000912:Antibodies, Neoplasm; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018985:Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins