IMMUNOLOGICAL APPROACH TO HEPATOCELLULAR-CARCINOMA

A library of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) has been produced against a human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line designated FOCUS in or der to study the antigenic properties of transformed hepatocytes. Seve ral monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) were initially selected for study si nce they bound to antigens which were overexpressed in HCC tissues com pared with the adjacent uninvolved normal liver counterpart: in additi on, these MoAbs revealed low level antigen expression on other normal human tissues, Subsequently, HCC cell lines were metabolically labelle d and the antigens further characterized by immunoprecipitation and We stern blot analysis, If the MoAb recognized a primary linear epitope o n a protein, cloning was performed using a lambda GT11 cDNA expression library prepared from the FOCUS HCC cell line, These studies characte rized the HCC associated antigen(si at the molecular level, This revie w illustrates the value of such an experimental approach to search for and identify HCC associated antigens and emphasizes the biological pr operties of novel proteins may be defined and characterized by these t echniques. More important, our investigations have described unique pr oteins that may not only be important in the pathogenesis of HCC IT bu t also demonstrates how such antigen-antibody systems may be used to d evelop strategies for immuno-targetting and gene therapy of HCC.