Scanlan Matthew J, Gure Ali O, Jungbluth Achim A, Old Lloyd J, Chen Yao-Tseng
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York Branch at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Department of Pathology, New York, NY 10021, USA.
Immunol Rev. 2002 Oct;188:22-32. doi: 10.1034/j.1600-065x.2002.18803.x.
Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are a category of tumor antigens with normal expression restricted to male germ cells in the testis but not in adult somatic tissues. In some cases, CT antigens are also expressed in ovary and in trophoblast. In malignancy, this gene regulation is disrupted, resulting in CT antigen expression in a proportion of tumors of various types. Since their initial identification by T-cell epitope cloning, the list of CT antigens has been greatly expanded through serological expression cloning (SEREX) and differential mRNA expression analysis, and approximately 20 CT antigens or antigen families have been identified to date. Characteristics commonly shared by CT antigens, aside from the highly tissue-restricted expression profile, include existence as multigene families, frequent mapping to chromosome X, heterogeneous protein expression in cancer, likely correlation with tumor progression, induction of expression by hypomethylation and/or histone acetylation, and immunogenicity in cancer patients. Spontaneous humoral and cell-mediated immune responses have been demonstrated against several CT antigens, including NY-ESO-1, MAGE-A, and SSX antigens. Since CT antigens are immunogenic and highly restricted to tumors, their discovery has led directly to the development of antigen-specific cancer vaccines, and clinical trials with MAGE-A and NY-ESO-1 are in progress.
癌胚/睾丸（CT）抗原是一类肿瘤抗原，其正常表达仅限于睾丸中的男性生殖细胞，而在成人体细胞组织中不表达。在某些情况下，CT抗原也在卵巢和滋养层中表达。在恶性肿瘤中，这种基因调控被破坏，导致CT抗原在多种类型的一部分肿瘤中表达。自通过T细胞表位克隆首次鉴定以来，通过血清学表达克隆（SEREX）和差异mRNA表达分析，CT抗原的列表已大幅扩展，迄今为止已鉴定出约20种CT抗原或抗原家族。除了高度组织限制性表达谱外，CT抗原通常共有的特征包括作为多基因家族存在、频繁定位于X染色体、癌症中蛋白质表达异质性、可能与肿瘤进展相关、通过低甲基化和/或组蛋白乙酰化诱导表达以及在癌症患者中的免疫原性。已经证明针对几种CT抗原存在自发的体液和细胞介导的免疫反应，包括NY-ESO-1、MAGE-A和SSX抗原。由于CT抗原具有免疫原性且高度局限于肿瘤，它们的发现直接导致了抗原特异性癌症疫苗的开发，目前正在进行针对MAGE-A和NY-ESO-1的临床试验。
