Frequent cytolytic T-cell responses to peptide IMAGE-A10(254-262) in melanoma

MAGE genes encode tumor-specific shared antigens that are among the most in teresting candidates for cancer vaccines. Despite extensive studies, howeve r, CD8(+) T-cell responses to MAGE-derived epitopes have been detected only occasionally in cancer patients, even after vaccination. In contrast with these findings, we report here that HLA-A2 melanoma patients respond freque ntly to the recently identified peptide MAGE-A10(254-262). Indeed, as asses sed by staining with fluorescent HLA-A2/peptide MAGE-A10(254-262) tetramers , CD8(+) T cells directed against this peptide were readily detectable in a large proportion of HLA-A2(+) melanoma patients. These results provide new insight into the immunogenicity of MAGE antigens and underline the potenti al usefulness of MAGE-A10 peptide-based cancer vaccines.