title: Prospects and challenges of building a cancer vaccine targeting telomerase.
abstract: Despite their origin from self-tissue, tumor cells can be immunogenic and trigger immune responses that can profoundly influence tumor growth and development. Clinically, it may be possible to amplify or induce anti-tumor immune responses to achieve tumor rejection in patients. Increasing data over the last 8 years suggest that the human telomerase reverse transcriptase hTERT is immunogenic both in vitro and in vivo and may be a suitable target for novel cancer immunotherapy. Peptides derived from hTERT are naturally processed by tumors and presented on MHC molecules and trigger effector functions of specific T lymphocytes. Vaccination of cancer patients against hTERT epitopes induces anti-tumor T cells without clinical toxicity. If second-generation vaccines and other strategies are able to generate optimal cellular immunity against hTERT without toxicity in humans, the possibility of broad-spectrum immunotherapy or even immunoprevention therapy of cancer may be possible.
authors: Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 551 BRBII/III, 421 Curie Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. rhv@mail.med.upenn.edu <rhv@mail.med.upenn.edu>
authors: Robert H
authors: RH
authors: Vonderheide
mesh_terms: D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016233:Immunotherapy, Active; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D019098:Telomerase / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; C509186:TERT protein, human; D019098:Telomerase
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