Faculty of Science and Technology, Division of Molecular Science, Gunma University, Kiryu, Gunma, 376-8515, Japan.
Department of Pathology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8511, Japan.
J Mater Sci Mater Med. 2021 May 17;32(6):58. doi: 10.1007/s10856-021-06526-6.
The evaluation of antitumor immune responses is essential for immune monitoring to predict clinical outcomes as well as treatment efficacies in cancer patients. In this study, we produced two tumor antigen (TA) proteins, melanoma antigen family A4 and wild type p53, using TG silkworm systems and evaluated anti-TA-specific immune responses by enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assays in patients with head and neck cancer. Eleven (61.1%) of 18 patients showed significant IFN-γ production in response to at least one TA; however, the presence of TA-specific immune responses did not significantly contribute to better prognosis (overall survival, p = 0.1768; progression-free survival, p = 0.4507). Further studies will need to be performed on a larger scale to better assess the clinical significance of these systems. The production of multiple TA proteins may provide new avenues for the development of immunotherapeutic strategies to stimulate a potent and specific immune response against tumor cells as well as precise assessment of antitumor immune responses in cancer patients.
评估抗肿瘤免疫应答对于免疫监测至关重要，可预测癌症患者的临床结局和治疗效果。在这项研究中，我们使用 TG 家蚕系统生产了两种肿瘤抗原（TA）蛋白，黑色素瘤相关抗原家族 A4 和野生型 p53，并通过酶联免疫斑点法检测头颈癌患者的抗 TA 特异性免疫应答。18 名患者中有 11 名（61.1%）至少对一种 TA 表现出显著的 IFN-γ产生；然而，TA 特异性免疫应答的存在并不能显著改善预后（总生存期，p=0.1768；无进展生存期，p=0.4507）。需要进一步进行更大规模的研究，以更好地评估这些系统的临床意义。多种 TA 蛋白的生产可能为免疫治疗策略的发展提供新途径，以刺激针对肿瘤细胞的有效和特异性免疫应答，并对癌症患者的抗肿瘤免疫应答进行精确评估。
