title: RhoC a new target for therapeutic vaccination against metastatic cancer.
abstract: Most cancer deaths are due to the development of metastases. Increased expression of RhoC is linked to enhanced metastatic potential in multiple cancers. Consequently, the RhoC protein is an attractive target for drug design. The clinical application of immunotherapy against cancer is rapidly moving forward in multiple areas, including the adoptive transfer of anti-tumor-reactive T cells and the use of "therapeutic" vaccines. The over-expression of RhoC in cancer and the fact that immune escape by down regulation or loss of expression of this protein would reduce the morbidity and mortality of cancer makes RhoC a very attractive target for anti-cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we describe an HLA-A3 restricted epitope from RhoC, which is recognized by cytotoxic T cells. Moreover, RhoC-specific T cells show cytotoxic potential against HLA-matched cancer cells of different origin. Thus, RhoC may serve as an important and widely applicable target for anti-cancer immunotherapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cancer Immune therapy (CCIT), Department of Hematology, Herlev University Hospital, 2730, Herlev, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lynn
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wenandy
authors.forename: Rikke Baek
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.forename: Inge Marie
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Svane
authors.forename: Per
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thor Straten
authors.forename: Mads Hald
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Andersen
mesh_terms: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D000075024:rhoC GTP-Binding Protein
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen; C066690:RHOC protein, human; D020741:rho GTP-Binding Proteins; D000075024:rhoC GTP-Binding Protein