A TUMOR-ASSOCIATED ANTIGEN EXPRESSION IN HUMAN HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES

Objective responses obtained with high-dose in vivo recombinant interl eukin 2 (r-IL2) in some leukaemic patients suggest among other hypothe ses that blasts might express tumour rejection antigens potentially re cognized by cytolytic T lymphocytes. Such antigens have been described in human melanomas and the MAGE-1 gene, coding for a tumour rejection antigen was recently identified. This gene is expressed in various so lid tumours, but not in normal cells. We have screened a panel of haem atological malignancies by reverse transcription and PCR and we report that MAGE-1 is not expressed in the blasts from 48 patients whereas t hree cell lines derived from leukaemias express this gene.