title: Characterization of a human telomerase reverse transcriptase sequence containing two antigenic epitopes with high affinity for human leucocyte antigen.
abstract: Almost all human malignant tumours exhibit strong telomerase activity, but normal adult tissues, with a few exceptions, do not. hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) is an essential component of telomerase, and hence it can serve as a parallel sign in the diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. In the present study, we selected a sequence of hTERT containing two antigenic epitopes that have high affinity for HLA-A2 (human leucocyte antigen-A2) as a TAA (tumour-associated antigen) based on a peptide-motif scoring system. The sequence was obtained by reverse-transcriptase PCR and cloned into the Escherichia coli expression vector pGEX-4T-1. The expression product appeared in the form of inclusion bodies. Denatured inclusion-body extract was subjected to SDS/PAGE, and the gel band corresponding to the putative 38 kDa fusion protein (GST-hTERT major tumour-associated antigen) was excised, ground with PBS, mixed with Freund's adjuvant and used to inoculate mice, generating anti-TERT polyclonal antibodies. Western blotting using the leukaemia cell line THP-1 demonstrated that the antibodies were able to detect hTERT expression, implying the potential applicability of the antigenic peptides derived from hTERT as a universal marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of tumours.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Science, Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University, 135 Xingang West Road, Guangzhou 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jinwen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jianfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Riqiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Xunzhang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000915:Antibody Affinity / Q000276:immunology*; D018604:Epitope Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology*; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019098:Telomerase / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D019098:Telomerase