title: Melanoma-associated chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan as a new target antigen for CD4+ T cells in melanoma patients.
abstract: Melanoma-associated chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (MCSP) (also known as high molecular weight-melanoma-associated antigen) represents an interesting target antigen for cancer immunotherapy which is expressed on human melanomas and other tumors such as breast carcinomas, gliomas, neuroblastomas and acute leukemias. MCSP seems to play an important functional role in melanoma as it is involved in tumor cell migration, invasion and angiogenesis. In this study, we isolated CD4(+) T helper cells from the blood of a healthy donor, recognizing a peptide from the MCSP core protein presented by HLA-DBR1*1101 molecules. T cell reactivity against the identified peptide could be detected in the blood of healthy donors and melanoma patients. MCSP specific T cells from the blood of a patient could be readily expanded by repeated peptide stimulation and recognized MCSP and HLA-DR expressing tumor cells. Our findings suggest that vaccination against MCSP helper T cell epitopes might be a promising approach to fight melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Erfurt
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Emmerling
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Klotz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hertl
authors.forename: Gerold
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schuler
authors.forename: Erwin S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Schultz
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D002999:Clone Cells; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C101390:CSPG4 protein, human; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4