Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.10.1 (ERK)
 95,504 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We studied a family in which thyroid neoplasms appeared to occur through genetic inheritance. Six blood relations, including the two probands, had thyroid carcinoma, and six others had benign thyroid tumors. When both parents had a thyroid neoplasm, their children frequently had thyroid neoplasms; this was confirmed through two generations of this family. To clarify the mechanism of inheritance, we performed chromosomal analysis, Southern blot analysis of three variable number of tandem repeats markers and HLA typing on two probands, and examined their RET proto-oncogenes, and p53 and RB tumor suppressor genes. We could not find any positive data on genetic analysis, although our data were limited. In conclusion, we studied a family in which thyroid neoplasms have occurred partly through genetic inheritance, although environmental factors may have influenced the occurrence of thyroid diseases. A search for a predisposing gene, using the microsatellite technique, is required to clarify the gentic factors involved.
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PMID:Clinical and genetic analysis of an inherited case of thyroid adenoma/cancer. 936 3

One approach to development of specific cancer immunotherapy relies on the induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for tumor-associated antigens (TAA). Induction of TAA-specific CTL could be used towards the eradication of established tumors, or to prevent their dissemination or recurrence after primary treatment. The present study identifies a set of CTL epitopes from TAA frequently found on solid epithelial tumors such as breast, lung and gastro-intestinal tumors. Specifically, HLA-A2.1 binding peptides from the MAGE2, MAGE3, HER-2/neu and CEA antigens were tested for their capacity to elicit in vitro anti-tumor CTL using lymphocytes from normal volunteers and autologous dendritic cells as antigen-presenting cells. A total of 6 new epitopes (MAGE2[10(157)], MAGE3[9(112)], CEA[9(691)], CEA[9(24)], HER2[9(435)] and HER2[9(5)]) were identified which were capable of specifically recognizing tumor cell lines lines expressing HLA-A2.1 and the corresponding TAA. In one case (CEA[9(24)]), induction of vigorous anti-tumor CTL responses required epitope engineering to increase HLA-A2.1 binding affinity. Finally, most of the newly identified epitopes (5 out of 6) were found to be highly crossreactive with other common HLA alleles of the A2 supertype (A2.2, A2.3, A2.6 and A6802), thus demonstrating their potential in providing broad and non-ethnically biased population coverage. The results are discussed in the context of the development of multi-epitope-based therapies with broad applicability for patients suffering from commonly found tumors.
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PMID:The multi-epitope approach for immunotherapy for cancer: identification of several CTL epitopes from various tumor-associated antigens expressed on solid epithelial tumors. 954 34

HLA-DM facilitates peptide acquisition by MHC class II proteins within the endosomes of APC by facilitating release of invariant chain peptide intermediates (CLIP) from the class II molecules. T2 cells have a deletion in the MHC II region which deletes HLA-DM and MHC II genes. T2 cells transfected with MHC class II proteins are defective in protein presentation, a defect that is corrected by HLA-DM transfection. Here we show that T2 cells transfected with Ak are also impaired in binding and presentation of the superantistaphylococcal enterotoxin A and that HLA-DM transfection corrects this defect. The poor ability of SEA to bind to Ak on DM-deficient cells is somewhat surprising since Ak has a low affinity for CLIP and is not predominantly occupied with CLIP on T2 cells compared to wide-type APC. These data suggest an influence of HLA-DM on the structure or composition of the Ak/peptide complex beyond its role in the release of invariant chain peptides.
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PMID:Quantitative defect in staphylococcal enterotoxin A binding and presentation by HLA-DM-deficient T2.Ak cells corrected by transfection of HLA-DM genes. 957 18

We have derived HLA-A2.1-restricted, gastric cancer-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines by repetitive in vitro stimulation of tumor-associated lymphocytes (TAL) with autologous tumor cells. The HER2/neu specificity of these gastric cancer-specific CTLs was demonstrated using HER2/neu-transfected cell lines and HER2/neu-expressing tumors, and with a set of HER2/neu-derived peptide epitopes. Gastric cancer-specific CTLs specifically lysed autologous and allogeneic HLA-A2.1+, HER2/neu+ gastric cancer cells, HER2/neu-transfected C1R/A2 cell lines (HLA-A2.1+, HER2+) and HLA-A2.1-transfected SW626 tumor cell lines (HLA-A2.1+, HER2+). This recognition could be inhibited by anti-HLA-A2 antibody or by cold target HER2/neu-transfected C1R/A2 cells. Our results demonstrate that the HER2/neu-encoded HLA-A2.1-associated epitopes recognized by CTLs are presented as naturally processed peptides on gastric cancer lines. Furthermore, 3 of 19 tested HER2/neu-derived peptide epitopes [HER2(9(106)), HER2(9(369)), HER2(9(689))], which all bound HLA-A2.1 with high (IC50 < 50 nM) affinity, were able to sensitize HLA-A2+ C1R/A2 cells to be recognized by the gastric cancer-specific CTLs, demonstrating the immunodominance of these epitopes. In conclusion, our findings implicate HER2/neu-derived epitopes as potential candidates for novel immunotherapy and vaccine strategies against gastric cancer.
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PMID:Identification of HER2/neu-derived peptide epitopes recognized by gastric cancer-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. 975 53

The human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and HER-2/neu are potential target antigens for CTL specific immunotherapy for common malignancies such as breast, lung, colon, and gastric carcinomas. Several CTL epitopes restricted by HLA-A2, the most common human histocompatibility molecule, have been previously reported. However, to develop CTL-based immunotherapies for the general population, it is necessary to identify epitopes restricted by other common histocompatibility alleles. Here, we describe two HLA-A3-restricted CTL epitopes from the CEA and HER-2/neu antigens. HLA-A3 binding synthetic peptides from CEA and HER-2/neu were tested for immunogenicity by in vitro primary CTL induction protocol using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal healthy volunteers. One peptide from CEA (CEA[9(61)]: HLFGYSWYK) and one peptide from HER-2/neu (HER2[9(754)]: VLRENTSPK) were shown to induce CTL that was capable of killing a tumor cell line expressing HLA-A3 and the corresponding tumor-associated antigen. Additional MHC binding studies with the most common HLA molecules belonging to the HLA-A3 superfamily (HLA-A*1101, -A*3101, -A*3301, and -A*6801), demonstrated that CEA[9(61)] binds five of five A3 supertype molecules with high affinity, and the HER2[9(754)] epitope was able to bind to four of the same five alleles. These results indicate that these two new CTL epitopes should be immunogenic in individuals expressing either HLA-A3, or other members of the HLA-A3 superfamily.
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PMID:Identification of HLA-A3-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes from carcinoembryonic antigen and HER-2/neu by primary in vitro immunization with peptide-pulsed dendritic cells. 992 58

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the expression of very recently identified surface antigens on CD34+ and AC133+ bone marrow (BM) cells. Coexpression analysis of AC133 and defined antigens on CD34+ BM cells revealed that the majority of the CD164+, CD135+, CD117+, CD38low, CD33+, and CD71low cells resides in the AC133+ population. In contrast, most of the CD10+ and CD19+ B cell progenitors and a fraction of the CD71high population are AC133-, indicating that CD34+AC133+ cells are enriched in primitive and myeloid progenitor cells, whereas CD34+AC133- cells mainly consist of B cell and late erythroid progenitors. This corresponds to the highly reduced percentage of CD10+ B cells and the absence of CD71high erythroid progenitors on AC133+ selected BM cells. A portion of 0.2-0.7% of the AC133+ selected cells do not coexpress CD34. These cells are very small and define a uniform CD71-, CD117-, CD10-, CD38low, CD135+, HLA-DRhigh, CD45+ population with unknown delineation. Four color analysis on CD34+CD38- BM cells revealed that virtually all of these primitive cells express AC133. Using an improved liposome-enhanced labeling technique for the staining of weakly expressed antigens, subsets of this population could be identified which express the angiopoietin receptors TIE (67.6%) and TEK (36.8%), the vascular endothelial growth factor receptors FLT1 (7%), FLT4 (3.2%), and KDR (10.4%), or the receptor tyrosine kinases HER-2 (15.4%) and FLT3 (CD135; 77.6%). Our results suggest that the CD34+CD38- population is heterogeneous with respect to the expression of the analyzed receptor tyrosine kinases.
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PMID:Expression of novel surface antigens on early hematopoietic cells. 1037 8

Most cervical carcinomas appear to arise from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) lesions. In addition to infection with high-risk human papilloma viruses, which is indicative of an increased risk of progression, alterations of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes play a role. Genetic studies of CIN lesions, primary cervical carcinoma, and metastases may shed light on the relative importance of various genetic alterations involved in the progression of CIN to invasive carcinoma. We examined tumor material from 10 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix and synchronous CIN lesions and lymph node metastases. The CIN component, invasive carcinoma, and lymph node metastases were analyzed separately for loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on the following loci: VHL (3p21), HLA region (6p22-23), PGL (11q 22-24), E6 associated protein (15q11-13), TP53 (17p13), DCC (18q21.1), and chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 9, 20, and X. Using immunohistochemistry, the expression of the EGF receptor, ERBB2, and TP53 was determined. In CIN lesions, frequent LOH was found at chromosome arms 3p, 6p, and 11q. Primary invasive carcinoma showed additional LOH at chromosome arms 6q, 17p, and 18q. In lymph node metastases, an additional locus on the X chromosome displayed LOH. All carcinomas and synchronous lesions but one showed high expression levels of the EGF receptor. TP53 staining, when present, was found in all synchronous lesions. Focal staining of ERBB2 was found in one CIN lesion, two invasive carcinomas, and four metastases. The molecular alterations accumulated in a fashion that paralleled the progression of the tumors. These results indicate that cervical tumorigenesis occurs in a stepwise fashion, including infection and integration of oncogenic HPV and several specific genetic alterations. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 26:346-354, 1999.
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PMID:Genetic alterations during the progression of squamous cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix. 1053 70

Certain human leukocyte antigens, by presenting conserved immunogenic epitopes for T cell recognition, may, in part, account for the observed differences in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) susceptibility. To determine whether HLA polymorphism influences HIV-1 susceptibility, a longitudinal cohort of highly HIV-1-exposed female sex workers based in Nairobi, Kenya, was prospectively analyzed. Decreased HIV-1 infection risk was strongly associated with possession of a cluster of closely related HLA alleles (A2/6802 supertype; incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27-0.72; P=.0003). The alleles in this supertype are known in some cases to present the same peptide epitopes for T cell recognition. In addition, resistance to HIV-1 infection was independently associated with HLA DRB1*01 (IRR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.06-0.60; P=.0003), which suggests that anti-HIV-1 class II restricted CD4 effector mechanisms may play an important role in protecting against viral challenge. These data provide further evidence that resistance to HIV-1 infection in this cohort of sex workers is immunologically mediated.
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PMID:Influence of HLA supertypes on susceptibility and resistance to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection. 1082 57

It is accepted that both helper and CTLs play a critical role in immune antitumor responses. Thus, the design of effective immune-based therapies for cancer relies in the identification of relevant tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) capable of eliciting strong helper and cytotoxic T-cell responses against tumor cells. The product of the HER2/neu oncogene is considered as a prototype TAA, because it is found overexpressed in a large variety of malignancies, whereas normal cells only produce low levels of this product. Several cytotoxic T-cell epitopes for HER2/neu have been identified that enable the design of peptide-based therapeutic vaccines for tumors expressing this TAA. Nevertheless, it is expected that inclusion of peptide epitopes capable of eliciting HER2/neu-specific T helper responses into these vaccines may enhance their effectiveness in the clinic. We describe here a strategy to identify helper T-cell epitopes for HER2/neu that focuses on peptides predicted to bind to numerous histocompatibility alleles (promiscuous epitopes), which would encourage their use in therapeutic vaccines for the general cancer patient population. Following this approach, we successfully identified several peptides that elicited T helper (CD4+) proliferative responses to peptides derived from HER2/neu. Most of the T-cell responses appeared to reflect a low affinity for antigen, which could be the result of immune tolerance because HER2/neu is expressed in low levels in normal cells and possibly including lymphocytes and monocytes. Interestingly, one of these peptides, HER2(883), was recognized by T cells in the context of either HLA-DR1, HLA-DR4, HLA-DR52, and HLA-DR53, indicating a high degree of histocompatibility promiscuity. Furthermore, T cells that reacted with peptide HER2(883) could also recognize antigen-presenting cells that process HER2/neu recombinant protein. These results may be relevant for the design of more effective therapeutic vaccines for tumors expressing the HER2/neu oncogene product.
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PMID:Defining promiscuous MHC class II helper T-cell epitopes for the HER2/neu tumor antigen. 1101 52

Ag-specific CD8+ CTL are crucial for effective tumor rejection. Attempts to treat human malignancies by adoptive transfer of tumor-reactive CTL have been limited due to the difficulty of generating and expanding autologous CTL with defined Ag specificity. The current study examined whether human CTL can be generated against the tumor-associated Ag HER2 using autologous dendritic cells (DC) that had been genetically engineered to express HER2. DC progenitors were expanded by culturing CD34+ hemopoietic progenitor cells in the presence of the designer cytokine HyperIL-6. Proliferating precursor cells were infected by a retroviral vector encoding the HER2 Ag and further differentiated into CD83+ DC expressing high levels of MHC, adhesion, and costimulatory molecules. Retroviral transduction of DC resulted in the expression of the HER2 molecule with a transduction efficiency of 15%. HER2-transduced DC correctly processed and presented the Ag, because HLA-A*0201-positive DC served as targets for CTL recognizing the HLA-A*0201-binding immunodominant peptide HER2(369-377). HER2-transduced DC were used as professional APCs for stimulating autologous T lymphocytes. Following repetitive stimulation, a HER2-specific, HLA-A*0201-restricted CTL line was generated that was capable of lysing HLA-A*0201-matched tumor cells overexpressing HER2. A CD8+ T cell clone could be generated that displayed the same specificity pattern as the parenteral CTL line. The ability to generate and expand HER2-specific, MHC class I-restricted CTL clones using HER2-transduced autologous DC in vitro facilitates the development of adoptive T cell transfer for patients with HER2-overexpressing tumors without the requirement of defining immunogenic peptides.
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PMID:Generation of tumor-reactive CTL against the tumor-associated antigen HER2 using retrovirally transduced dendritic cells derived from CD34+ hemopoietic progenitor cells. 1103 26


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