The Long-standing Quest for Tumor Rejection Antigens

Several tumor antigens recognized by T lymphocytes have now been identified at the molecular level. Different mechanisms could account for their expression: activation of normally silent genes, point mutations in normally expressed genes, chromosomal translocations generating combinatorial epitopes, or post-translational modifications of proteins. A major consequence of these results is the notion that potential tumor rejection antigens are often shared by a significant proportion of human tumors. This may have important implications in cancer immunotherapy, especially since tumors expressing a defined antigen can be identified clinically on the basis of the expression of the relevant gene. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc