The potential of melanoma antigen expression in cancer therapy

A potential new therapy for cancer is active specific immunotherapy with me lanoma antigen (MAGE) gene products. The MAGE gene family comprizes a serie s of 12 closely related genes, some of which have been shown to be expresse d in a variety of tumours of different histological origin. Peptides encode d by the MAGE genes are targets for specific immunotherapy as they are pres ented in association with human leucocyte antigen class I molecules and are recognised by cytotoxic T lymphocytes. This article reviews the discovery, development, role and therapeutic potential of MAGE tumour-associated anti gens. Knowledge in this field of study is in its early stages. Future advan ces can be anticipated in term of defining therapeutic relevance, antigen d etection and discovery of related genes.