Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.10.3.1 (tyrosinase)
 9,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Human melanoma represents the principal cause of death in patients with skin cancer in the United States and Europe. Tumour infiltrating lymphocytes recognizing melanoma have been used to identify the tumour antigens recognized by T-cells in the context of MHC class I or class II molecules. Such antigens include MAGE-1, MAGE-3, MART-1/Melan-A, gp100, tyrosinase, the tyrosinase-related antigen gp75, the antigen gp15 and the mutated CDK4 and beta-catenin gene-products. The identification of these T-cell epitopes provides us with novel reagents for the development of state-of-the-art treatments and for the (immuno-)monitoring of patients with melanoma. In order for treatments, including peptide-based vaccines, to be successful, several conceptual criteria must be met: (1) The patient's tumour must present the relevant epitope(s) integrated into the vaccine, (2) the tumour should express the appropriate restricting major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule(s) required for patient cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) reactivity, and (3) the patient's T-cell repertoire should be able to react productively against the melanoma antigens present in the vaccine. Clinical trials implementing peptide-based vaccines or whole protein therapies have been initiated in the United States and Europe. We suggest that such treatments should include the careful monitoring of anti-tumour T-cell responses. This should include examination of melanoma antigen and MHC class I allele expression in the individual patient's tumour, assessment of the status of the peptide transporter molecules TAP1/TAP2 and evaluation of T-cell mediated immune responses reactive against peptides and autologous melanoma. Evaluation of clinical parameters (such as disease-free survival) in conjunction with an examination of immunological parameters may facilitate our understanding of the immune responses against T-cell antigens that are shared among melanoma and normal melanocytes, and may ultimately help to identify the most effective immunotherapy for patients with melanoma.
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PMID:New treatment options for patients with melanoma: review of melanoma-derived T-cell epitope-based peptide vaccines. 864 65

TAP1 and TAP2 molecules are involved in the transport of peptides prior to their association with class I molecules and are mandatory for efficient antigen presentation. To investigate whether loss of expression of TAP1 or TAP2 is a likely mechanism of immune escape in malignant melanoma, TAP1 and TAP2 mRNA was analyzed by RT-PCR in 39 melanoma cell lines expressing at least 2 of the known melanoma-associated antigens, tyrosinase, Melan-A/MART-1, gp100, MAGE-1 and MAGE-3. All 39 cell lines expressed both TAP1 and TAP2 at the mRNA level. To investigate other factors potentially involved in immune escape, the expression of LMP2, LMP7, HLA class I molecules, beta2-microglobulin (beta2m) and specific HLA-A alleles was evaluated by RT-PCR and FACS analyses. All 39 cell lines expressed LMP2, LMP7 and beta2m. A single cell line (FM37) had lost the expression of class I molecules, and this same cell line showed loss of expression of the HLA-A2 heavy chain. No cell lines showed loss of expression of the HLA-A1 heavy chain. Based on our studies of in vitro established cell lines, loss of TAP1/2 or LMP2/7 expression does not appear to be a common mechanism of immune escape in malignant melanoma.
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PMID:Expression of transporter associated with antigen processing 1 and 2 (TAP1/2) in malignant melanoma cell lines. 905 59

Specific CD8(+) CTL recognition of melanoma requires expression of MHC class I molecules as well as melanoma-associated peptide epitopes. Human melanoma cells may escape immune recognition by a variety of means, including global or allelic down-regulation of MHC class I molecules. Stable MHC class I cell surface expression requires delivery of cytosolic peptides into the endoplasmic reticulum by the peptide transporter molecules TAP1 and TAP2, with peptides subsequently transported to the cell surface in complexes containing MHC class I heavy chain and beta2-microglobulin. We have evaluated a series of mechanisms resulting in MHC class I down-regulation in a human melanoma cell line, Mz18, typed as HLA-A2(+), A3(+), B7(+), B57(+), Cw1(+), and Cw6(+) by genomic PCR analysis. The melanoma cell line Mz18 exhibits a global down-regulation of MHC class I heavy chain transcripts; beta2-microglobulin; the proteasome subunits LMP2/7, involved in generating cytosolic peptide fragments; and the peptide transporter molecules TAP1 and TAP2, involved in peptide transport from the cytosol into the endoplasmic reticulum. IFN-gamma treatment of Mz18 melanoma cells leads to up-regulation of LMP2/7 and TAP1/2, as well as to up-regulation of HLA-B and HLA-C MHC loci alleles, but not HLA-A2 or HLA-A3. Karyotypic analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization with chromosome 6 and MHC class I-specific probes showed complex rearrangement of one chromosome 6 involving the MHC class I locus on 6p and translocation of 6q to the long arm of chromosome 19. To evaluate the capability of melanoma Mz18 to present tumor-specific peptides to HLA-A2-restricted, melanoma-specific CTLs, we restored HLA-A2 surface expression by retroviral-mediated transfer of functional HLA-A2 cDNA. Melanoma peptides could only be presented and recognized by CTLs if the HLA-A2-transfected Mz18 cell line was first treated with IFN-gamma, thereby restoring LMP2/7 and TAP1/2 expression and function. Because several melanoma antigens recognized by T cells have been reported to be presented by HLA-A2 (MART-1/Melan-A, tyrosinase, gp100, and MAGE-3), the loss of HLA-A2 molecules may represent an important mechanism by which many melanomas evade immune recognition. These findings suggest that patients entering clinical trials for immunotherapy with melanoma vaccines should be carefully examined for tumor cell allelic MHC class I loss and whether such MHC class I antigen down-regulation can be restored by cytokines.
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PMID:Tumor escape from immune recognition: loss of HLA-A2 melanoma cell surface expression is associated with a complex rearrangement of the short arm of chromosome 6. 981 14