Wenandy L, Sørensen RB, Svane IM, thor Straten P, Andersen MH. RhoC a new target for therapeutic vaccination against metastatic cancer.
Cancer Immunol Immunother 2008;
57:1871-8. [PMID:
18415097 PMCID:
PMC11030672 DOI:
10.1007/s00262-008-0517-2]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2008] [Accepted: 03/29/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Most cancer deaths are due to the development of metastases. Increased expression of RhoC is linked to enhanced metastatic potential in multiple cancers. Consequently, the RhoC protein is an attractive target for drug design. The clinical application of immunotherapy against cancer is rapidly moving forward in multiple areas, including the adoptive transfer of anti-tumor-reactive T cells and the use of "therapeutic" vaccines. The over-expression of RhoC in cancer and the fact that immune escape by down regulation or loss of expression of this protein would reduce the morbidity and mortality of cancer makes RhoC a very attractive target for anti-cancer immunotherapy. Herein, we describe an HLA-A3 restricted epitope from RhoC, which is recognized by cytotoxic T cells. Moreover, RhoC-specific T cells show cytotoxic potential against HLA-matched cancer cells of different origin. Thus, RhoC may serve as an important and widely applicable target for anti-cancer immunotherapeutic strategies.
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