T. Kageshita et al., Clinical significance of MART-1 and HLA-A2 expression and CD8+T cell infiltration in melanocytic lesions in HLA-A2 phenotype patients, J DERMA SCI, 25(1), 2001, pp. 36-44
MART-1 is a good candidate antigen for immunotherapy against HLA-A2 patient
s with melanoma, since it is a highly immunogenic antigen recognized by HLA
-A2 and HLA-B45 restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T cells and expressed in the majo
rity of melanoma lesions. In the present study the expression of MART-1 and
HLA-A2 on melanocytic cells and CD8+ T cell infiltration was immunohistoch
emically analyzed. MART-1 was expressed in most melanocytic lesions, while
HLA-A2 was down-regulated with melanoma disease progression. Furthermore, c
oncomitant down-regulation of MART-1 and HLA-A2 in melanoma cells was corre
lated with Door prognosis. These findings suggest both MART-1 and HLA-A2 ex
pression in melanoma lesions should be analyzed for selection of patients e
ligible for MART-1 based immunotherapy and monitoring for emergence of mela
noma cells resistant to T cell therapy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland L
td. All rights reserved.