Melanoma Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein (ML-IAP) Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes Cross-React with an Epitope from the Auto-Antigen SS56

Melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis protein (ML-IAP) is a target for immune-mediated tumor destruction.

The identification of antigens associated with tumor destruction is a major goal of cancer immunology. Vaccination with irradiated tumor cells engineered to secrete granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor generates potent, specific, and long-lasting antitumor immunity through improved tumor antigen presentation by dendritic cells and macrophages. A phase I clinical trial of this immuni...

Cytolytic T Lymphocytes from Rescuing Melanoma Epitope-Specific

Screening of HLA-A24-restricted epitope peptides from prostate-specific membrane antigen that induce specific antitumor cytotoxic T lymphocytes.

PURPOSE Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), which is a transmembrane glycoprotein predominantly expressed in prostate cancer, is an attractive target for tumor-specific immunotherapy. To identify human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A24-restricted epitope peptides from PSMA for further application of the dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy targeting prostate cancer, we have screened several...

The inhibitor of apoptosis protein Livin (ML-IAP) plays a dual role in tumorigenicity.

The inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family can inhibit apoptosis induced by a variety of stimuli. We and others previously described the IAP Livin (ML-IAP). We found that Livin is unique among the IAP members as, on a strong apoptotic stimulus, it is specifically cleaved by caspases to produce a truncated protein with paradoxical proapoptotic activity (tLivin). We also showed that Livin en...

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes recognize an HLA-A2-restricted epitope within the hepatitis B virus nucleocapsid antigen

The absence of readily manipulable experimental systems to study the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response against hepatitis B virus (HBV) antigens has thus far precluded a definitive demonstration of the role played by this response in the pathogenesis of liver cell injury and viral clearance during HBV infection. To circumvent the problem that HBV infection of human cells in vitro for product...