Identification of potential HLA-A *0201 restricted CTL epitopes derived from the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (Ep-CAM) and the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).

The altered expression pattern of the Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (Ep-CAM) and the Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) on tumor cells of epithelial origin as compared to normal epithelia may permit T cells to preferentially recognize and lyse these tumor cells. The binding affinity for human leucocyte antigen A2.1 (HLA-A0201) and the capacity to form stable peptide-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) interactions with this molecule were tested for 410 Ep-CAM-derived sequences, including an overlapping set of 9 amino-acid-long peptides, and 73 CEA-derived peptides fulfilling the HLA-A0201 motif. Peptides with a high binding affinity and a low peptide-MHC dissociation rate were subsequently tested for their immunogenicity in HLA-A*0201Kb transgenic mice. One Ep-CAM-derived peptide and 1 CEA-derived peptide were able to reproducibly induce peptide-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL) in these mice. This indicates that EpCAM and CEA are potential target antigens for CTL-mediated immunotherapy of epithelial cancers.