Y. Kawakami et al., IDENTIFICATION OF A HUMAN-MELANOMA ANTIGEN RECOGNIZED BY TUMOR-INFILTRATING LYMPHOCYTES ASSOCIATED WITH IN-VIVO TUMOR REJECTION, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 91(14), 1994, pp. 6458-6462
The cultured T-cell line TIL1200, established from the tumor-infiltrat
ing lymphocytes (TILs) of a patient with advanced metastatic melanoma,
recognized an antigen on most HLA-A2(+) melanomas and on all HLA-A2() cultured neonatal melanocytes in an HLA-A2 restricted manner but not
on other types of tissues or cell lines tested. A cDNA encoding an an
tigen recognized by TIL1200 was isolated by screening an HLA-A2(+) bre
ast cancer cell line transfected with an expression cDNA library prepa
red from an HLA-A2(+) melanoma cell line. The nucleotide and amino aci
d sequences of this cDNA were almost identical to the genes encoding g
lycoprotein gp100 or Pmel17 previously registered in the GenBank. Expr
ession of this gene was restricted to melanoma and melanocyte cell lin
es and retina but was not expressed on other fresh or cultured normal
tissues or other types bf tumor tested. The cell line transfected with
this cDNA also expressed antigen recognized by the melanoma-specific
antibody HMB45 that bound to gp100. A synthetic 10-amino acid peptide
derived from gp100 was recognized by TIL1200 in the context of HLA-A2.
1. Since the administration of TIL1200 plus interleukin 2 resulted in
regression of metastatic cancer in the autologous patient, gp100 is a
possible tumor rejection antigen and may be useful for the development
of immunotherapies for patients with melanoma.