Suri Anil
National Institute of Immunology, Genes and Proteins Laboratory, Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi-110067, India.
Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2006 Apr;6(4):379-89. doi: 10.1517/14712598.6.4.379.
The development of successful immunotherapeutic strategies requires the identification and characterisation of immunogenic cancer antigens that will be recognised by the host immune system, leading to tumour rejection. The concept of immunotherapy is based on the assumption that antigenic structures expressed in tumours can be used for therapeutic approaches employing the autologous immune system or by the application of immunotherapeutic reagents. Based on this concept, there is a great need to gain profound knowledge of the actual protein/antigen expression and its distribution pattern within normal tissues and cancerous tissues. Cancer testis (CT) antigens represent a unique class of tumour antigens, which are expressed in a variety of cancerous tissues and are silent in normal tissues, except for the testis. Owing to their restricted gene expression in the testis and various malignancies, CT antigens represent potential defined targets for antigen-based vaccination and antigen-directed immunotherapy to control cancer growth. Moreover, the analysis of humoral and cellular immune responses to CT antigens has proved useful for identifying novel cancer serum biomarkers with potential implications in early diagnosis of cancer.
成功的免疫治疗策略的发展需要识别和表征可被宿主免疫系统识别的免疫原性癌症抗原，从而导致肿瘤排斥。免疫治疗的概念基于这样一种假设，即肿瘤中表达的抗原结构可用于采用自体免疫系统的治疗方法或通过应用免疫治疗试剂。基于这一概念，非常有必要深入了解正常组织和癌组织中实际的蛋白质/抗原表达及其分布模式。癌胚（CT）抗原代表一类独特的肿瘤抗原，它们在多种癌组织中表达，而在除睾丸外的正常组织中不表达。由于其在睾丸和各种恶性肿瘤中的基因表达受限，CT抗原代表了基于抗原的疫苗接种和抗原导向免疫治疗以控制癌症生长的潜在明确靶点。此外，对CT抗原的体液和细胞免疫反应的分析已被证明有助于识别具有潜在意义的新型癌症血清生物标志物，用于癌症的早期诊断。
