Harada Mamoru, Noguchi Masanori, Itoh Kyogo
Department of Immunology, Kurume University School of Medicine, 67 Asahi-machi, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-0011, Japan.
Int J Clin Oncol. 2003 Aug;8(4):193-9. doi: 10.1007/s10147-003-0332-x.
Recent advances in molecular biology and tumor immunology have allowed us to identify genes encoding human cancer-related antigens and their peptides that are recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). Although these advances have been preceded by studies on melanoma antigens, prostate cancer is another target candidate for specific immunotherapy. Several prostate tissue-specific antigens can be target molecules in specific immunotherapy for prostate cancer. The distribution of prostate tissue-specific antigens is more localized than that of melanoma-related antigens. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is available as an evaluation indicator of clinical course. In addition, epithelial cancer-related antigens are also applicable for prostate cancer patients. These lines of evidence suggest that prostate cancer is the best candidate for specific immunotherapy among the various types of epithelial cancers. A number of epitope peptides which have the potential to generate prostate cancer-reactive CTLs have been identified to date, and clinical trials targeting these molecules have been conducted. In this article, we review prostate cancer-related antigens and their epitope peptides, which have potential for use in the immunotherapy of prostate cancer patients, and we introduce the current status of clinical trials of specific immunotherapy targeting these molecules.
分子生物学和肿瘤免疫学的最新进展使我们能够识别编码人类癌症相关抗原及其肽段的基因，这些抗原和肽段可被细胞毒性T淋巴细胞（CTL）识别。尽管在黑色素瘤抗原研究之前就已经有了这些进展，但前列腺癌是特异性免疫治疗的另一个潜在靶点。几种前列腺组织特异性抗原可成为前列腺癌特异性免疫治疗的靶分子。前列腺组织特异性抗原的分布比黑色素瘤相关抗原更局限。前列腺特异性抗原（PSA）可作为临床病程的评估指标。此外，上皮癌相关抗原也适用于前列腺癌患者。这些证据表明，在各种类型的上皮癌中，前列腺癌是特异性免疫治疗的最佳候选对象。迄今为止，已经鉴定出许多有可能产生前列腺癌反应性CTL的表位肽，并且针对这些分子的临床试验已经开展。在本文中，我们综述了与前列腺癌相关的抗原及其表位肽，这些抗原和肽段有可能用于前列腺癌患者的免疫治疗，并且我们介绍了针对这些分子的特异性免疫治疗的临床试验现状。
