IDENTIFICATION OF HLA-A-ASTERISK-0201-RESTRICTED CTL EPITOPES ENCODEDBY THE TUMOR-SPECIFIC MAGE-2 GENE-PRODUCT

MACE-2 is expressed in many tumors, including melanoma, laryngeal tumo rs, lung tumors and sarcomas, but not in healthy tissue, with the exce ption of testis. Thus, MAGE-2-derived peptides that bind to HLA class I molecules and elicit cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses could be of significant therapeutic importance, In this study, we show that se veral MAGE-2-derived peptides bind with high affinity to HLA-A0201. T hree of them form complexes with HLA-A0201 that are stable at 37 degr ees C and are immunogenic in HLA-A0201K(b) transgenic mice, Moreover, CTLs against 2 of them (M2 112-120, and M2 157-166) specifically reco gnize cells that express both the MACE-2 protein and HLA-A0201K(b). T hese 2 peptides are processed and presented in the context of HLA-A02 01. Therefore, these peptides are candidate components in peptide-base d vaccines for the treatment and prevention of several types of MACE-2 -expressing cancers. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.