Immunologic targets for breast cancer.

Breast cancer is an immunogenic tumor. Over the last decade, investigations have shown that patients with breast cancer have pre-existent immune responses, both humoral and cellular, against a variety of proteins expressed in their tumors. Researchers using genomic and proteomic techniques have defined dozens of proteins that may serve as immunologic targets in breast cancer patients. In addition, other investigators focusing on a more directed approach of evaluating well-defined breast cancer proteins that are immunogenic have begun to translate some of the candidate antigens into human clinical trials of immune-based therapies in breast cancer. Immunogenic proteins associated with breast cancer are abundant. The major experimental question now facing breast cancer immunologists is how to prioritize these many candidate antigens for further evaluation for clinical use.