Tumor-reactive CD4+ T cell responses to the melanoma-associated chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan in melanoma patients and healthy individuals in the absence of autoimmunity.

To avoid immune escape by down-regulation or loss of Ag by the tumor cells, target Ags are needed, which are important for the malignant phenotype and survival of the tumor. We could identify a CD4(+) T cell epitope derived from the human melanoma-associated chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (MCSP) (also known as high m.w.-melanoma-associated Ag), which is strongly expressed on >90% of human melanoma lesions and is important for the motility and invasion of melanoma cells. However, MCSP is not strictly tumor specific, because it is also expressed in a variety of normal tissues. Therefore, self tolerance should prevent the induction of strong T cell responses against these Ags by vaccination strategies. In contrast, breaking self tolerance to this Ag by effectively manipulating the immune system might mediate antitumor responses, although it would bear the risk of autoimmunity. Surprisingly, we could readily isolate CD4(+) Th cells from the blood of a healthy donor-recognizing peptide MCSP(693-709) on HLA-DR11-expressing melanoma cells. Broad T cell reactivity against this Ag could be detected in the peripheral blood of both healthy donors and melanoma patients, without any apparent signs of autoimmune disease. In some patients, a decline of T cell reactivity was observed upon tumor progression. Our data indicate that CD4(+) T cells are capable of recognizing a membrane glycoprotein that is important in melanoma cell function, and it may be possible that the sizable reactivity to this Ag in most normal individuals contributes to immune surveillance against cancer.