Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0033036 (APC)
 10,214 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

p97 is a human tumor-associated Ag present on most melanoma cells that represents a possible target for immunologic attack. To evaluate the capacity of T cells reactive with this protein to promote elimination of melanoma cells expressing p97, a murine model was developed by transfecting a C3H/HeN melanoma with the p97 cDNA, generating p97-specific CD4+ T cells by in vivo immunization of C3H/HeN mice with a vaccinia/p97 recombinant virus followed by in vitro cloning with soluble p97 protein, and determining whether these CD4+ T cells could mediate rejection of pulmonary metastases. Characterization of the T cell clones demonstrated the presence of both I-Ak and I-Ek-restricted clones, although the majority of clones recognized p97 in the context of I-Ek. Analysis of clonal specificity using truncated p97 proteins revealed that at least three epitopes were immunogenic, and further studies with overlapping 15-amino acid peptides from a region of the p97 molecule defined by these truncated proteins identified an immunodominant epitope responsible for the majority of the I-Ek response. The T cell clones were not capable of directly recognizing the p97-expressing melanoma cells but responded to the tumor if syngeneic APC were present to process the tumor-derived p97 Ag. The therapeutic efficacy of these CD4+ T cell clones was evaluated in an adoptive therapy model in which mice bearing metastatic pulmonary lesions were treated by i.v. administration of the p97-specific cells. Despite the inability of the CD4+ clones to directly respond to or lyse the tumor cells, the clones were effective in promoting tumor eradication. In vitro studies demonstrated that this may have reflected secretion of lymphokines that activated macrophages to lyse the tumor. The results suggest that noncytolytic p97-specific CD4+ T cell clones can be effective in therapy of pulmonary melanoma metastases. Moreover, if human T cells reactive with the p97 protein could be generated, the expression of this tumor-associated Ag in melanoma cells might be adequate for such T cells to mediate a therapeutic antitumor response.
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PMID:CD4+ T cell clones specific for the human p97 melanoma-associated antigen can eradicate pulmonary metastases from a murine tumor expressing the p97 antigen. 170 34

The host immune response toward autologous human cancer is subject to regulation by the immunoregulatory network. We show that certain CD4+ T cell clones, derived from melanoma involved lymph node lymphocytes and from PBL stimulated by autologous melanoma cells, selectively down-regulated the induction of cytotoxic immune response of PBL against the respective autologous melanoma cells in two autologous systems. In both systems, only the generation of cytotoxic response against the autologous melanoma cells were suppressed. Cytotoxic response against EBV-infected autologous lymphoblastoid cell line in one case and cytotoxic responses against allogeneic targets in the other were not affected. In addition to suppressor activity selectively expressed against the autologous melanoma cells, the T cell clones up-regulated their Tac receptors when cocultured with the autologous melanoma cells and APC. These results support the existence of a putative tumor Ag-driven activation of regulatory T cells that affect cytotoxic immune response, in vitro, against autologous human melanoma.
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PMID:Autologous melanoma-induced activation of regulatory T cells that suppress cytotoxic response. 197 29

The present studies were undertaken to characterize Ag presentation by cultured human melanoma cell lines. Cell lines established from "biologically early" lesions of malignant melanoma were able to present the soluble Ag tetanus toxoid (TT) to autologous and HLA-DR-matched allogeneic, TT-immune T cell clones. Proliferation of T cell clones in response to Ag presented by primary melanoma peaked on day 2 of culture with Ag. Ag presentation was blocked by pretreatment of TT-pulsed and fixed melanoma cells with mAb against HLA-DR, but not HLA-DQ, HLA-DP, or HLA-ABC. Ag processing and presentation were inhibited by treating the melanoma cells with ammonium chloride. In parallel with previous findings from this laboratory demonstrating the inability of cell lines cultured from "advanced" primary or metastatic melanoma to induce autologous T cell proliferation, such cell lines also failed to present this exogenous Ag despite the presence of cell-surface HLA-class II molecules. Thus, in contrast to the finding in biologically early melanoma, none of the multiple TT-immune, T cell clones from autologous patients or HLA-DR matched donors was able to respond to TT presented by melanoma cells cultured from advanced disease. Co-incubation studies revealed that metastatic melanoma cells did not secrete inhibitory substances during the APC assay, however, they were able to process TT, rendering it "immunogenic" in the presence of fixed, autologous non-T cells. When fixed, autologous melanoma cells were assayed for their ability to present processed Ag; fixed cells of early but not advanced disease were able to present Ag in this setting, indicating that the presenting limb becomes flawed in the evolution of the metastatic phenotype. Finally, studies of chloroquine inhibition of the capacity of melanoma cells derived from early primary disease to stimulate autologous peripheral blood T cells suggest that such cells process and present tumor-associated Ag in the same fashion as the "model" Ag TT.
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PMID:Defective antigen presentation by human melanoma cell lines cultured from advanced, but not biologically early, disease. 246 32

Out of necessity and convenience many reports on population-based rates for cancer are limited to analyses by time period of diagnosis, and just how often cohort effects are important in cancer data has not been fully explored. To address this question, Connecticut cancer incidence rates for the years 1940-79 were fitted to the model: Log (incidence rate) = constant + age effect + period effect + birth cohort effect + error term. Data for each cancer site and sex were categorized into 10-year intervals by time period and age group. Significance testing for the curvilinear effects (which are estimable functions) of age (A), period (P), and cohort (C) in the 44 data sets led to no clear choice of model for three data sets; an APC model for 20, an AP model for 7, and an AC model for 14. These choices were corroborated by the RA2 index. Limitations in the interpretation of the results were enumerated. Presentation of population-based cancer rates by implicitly assuming an AP model is valuable (e.g., for studying age distribution in different regions or for age-adjustment in examining international variation or time trends). However, the assumption of an AP model may often be incorrect, as was shown to be the case for most of these 44 data sets. The implications for monitoring trends and generating etiologic hypotheses were discussed in light of the results for cutaneous malignant melanoma and cancers of the cervix, breast, ovary, lung, and bladder.
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PMID:Time period compared to birth cohort in Connecticut incidence rates for twenty-five malignant neoplasms. 385 75

Interactions between the costimulatory molecule B7 on APC and its counter-receptor CD28 on T lymphocytes play a key role in the induction of cell-mediated immune responses. We studied the role of costimulation of tumor-reactive T cells by B7 in the immune destruction of the K1735-M2 mouse melanoma into which the gene encoding the human melanoma-associated Ag, p97, had been transfected. Previous work has demonstrated that the p97 transfectant cl62 is immunogenic but still grows progressively in immunocompetent C3H/HeN mice and that adoptive transfer of p97-specific CD4+ T cells can induce the regression of small established cl62 tumors metastatic to the lungs. We have now shown that expression of B7 in cl62 after retroviral-mediated gene transfer eliminated its ability to grow in immunocompetent mice but not in T cell-deficient nude mice. Mice immunized with B7-transduced p97+ cells had an increased activity of both CD4+ T cells, which could proliferate in response to the p97 Ag, and CD8+ CTL, which could lyse a broad spectrum of cultured syngeneic p97+ and p97- tumor lines but not allogeneic tumor lines or syngeneic lymphoblasts. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets were required for tumor rejection, and the depletion of CD4+ T cells in vivo decreased the tumoricidal activity of CD8+ CTL. Treatment of mice bearing an 8-day established s.c. cl62 melanoma by i.p. injection of B7+ cells from 2A, a highly immunogenic p97 transfectant, resulted in complete tumor regression and cure, injection of B7- 2A cells did not. The therapeutic effect was specific for the cl62 tumor. Our results demonstrate that costimulation by B7 can amplify both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses against small tumors toward therapeutic benefit.
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PMID:Costimulation of tumor-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes by B7, a natural ligand for CD28, can be used to treat established mouse melanoma. 751 29

Peptide epitopes derived from differentiation antigens of the melanocyte lineage were recently identified in human melanomas as targets for MHC-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). The characterization of multiple CTL-defined antigenic determinants has opened possibilities of development of antigen-targeted vaccines. In the present study, we determined CTL reactivity against melanoma-associated peptides derived from Melan A/MART-1, tyrosinase, and gp100/Pmel17 in 3 HLA-A2+ melanoma patients. Then, we assessed the immune responses to synthetic melanoma-associated peptides injected intradermally. After 3 cycles of immunization with peptide alone, we used systemic GM-CSF as an adjuvant during the fourth cycle of immunization. Enhanced DTH reactions and CD8+ CTL responses were observed after treatment with systemic GM-CSF. Immunohistochemical characterization of DTH-constituting elements revealed infiltrates of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes and strong expression of IL-2 and gammaIFN, suggesting the activation of CD4+ ThI and CD8+ CTL by peptides presented by MHC-class-I molecules of dermal APC. Objective tumor regression was documented in all patients. We conclude that systemic GM-CSF enhances immune responses to melanoma-associated peptides and supports CTL-mediated tumor rejection in vivo.
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PMID:Granulocyte-macrophage-colony-stimulating factor enhances immune responses to melanoma-associated peptides in vivo. 869 May 25

Naturally processed peptides, obtained by acid extraction of tumor cells, contain Ags able to activate specific CTL in vitro. We recently reported that the nonprofessional APC, RMA-S, expressing the B7.1 molecule (RMA-S/B7), pulsed with naturally processed peptides from the nonimmunogenic B16F1 melanoma (B16F1a.e.) primed syngenic CD8+ T cells against the tumor in vitro. Here, we show the rejection of B16F1 melanoma by C57BL/6 mice after immunization with RMA-S/B7 cells pulsed with B16F1a.e. This response is critically dependent on both CD4+ and CD8+ cells, but not on NK cells. However, only CD8+ T cells exert anti-B16F1 cytolitic activity in vitro. Moreover, RMA-S/B7 cells pulsed with B16F1a.e. can be used to prevent the growth of 24-h preestablished melanomas. These results may have important implications for the clinical use of natural peptide fractions of tumor cells as therapeutic cancer vaccines.
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PMID:Rejection of a nonimmunogenic melanoma by vaccination with natural melanoma peptides on engineered antigen-presenting cells. 899 95

MHC-class-I-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific for tumor-associated antigens expressed by malignant cells are important components of the immune response against cancer. Recently, tumor-specific CTL could be generated in vitro, with responding lymphocytes from the blood of healthy blood donors. In the present study, we confirm that peptide-specific stimulation in vitro can induce high-affinity CTL capable of recognizing tumor cells expressing the appropriate tumor antigen. These tyrosinase-specific CTL display a restricted usage of TCRAV and TCRBV gene segments but of diverse CDR3 regions, resulting in a distinct fine-specificity for each CTL clone. This suggests that, similar to in vivo priming, peptide-pulsed APC are capable of stimulating a T-cell response in vitro expressing a limited TCR repertoire against autologous tumors. The generated CTL can recognize their target structure with high affinity, and this correlates in part with tumor-cell lysis. This methodology may be used to treat melanoma patients with infusion of ex vivo-induced and -expanded CTL.
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PMID:Affinity, specificity and T-cell-receptor diversity of melanoma-specific CTL generated in vitro against a single tyrosinase epitope. 937 49

Human peripheral blood contains a small subpopulation of immature dendritic cells (iDC) distinguished from circulating monocytes by their low expression of CD14. We utilized leukapheresis and countercurrent centrifugal elutriation to obtain myeloid origin mononuclear cell (MOMC) fractions of monocytes and iDC for study. These subpopulations were ultrastructurally and immunophenotypically similar before culture. After a 20- to 96-h culture either alone, with recombinant human granulocyte-monocyte CSF, or with endotoxin, greater up-regulation of costimulatory molecule expression was observed among iDC than among monocytes, and only iDC expressed the activation molecule CD83. Treatment with rhIL-4 caused many MOMC to develop morphologic properties of dendritic cells within 96 h, but costimulatory molecule up-regulation and CD14 down-regulation were heterogeneous, and CD83 expression was infrequent. In contrast, calcium ionophore (CI) treatment induced rapid and consistent effects in MOMC from both healthy volunteers and cancer patients, including down-regulated CD14 expression, acquisition of dendritic cell morphologic properties, up-regulated MHC and costimulatory molecule expression, and de novo CD83 expression. Many such effects occurred within 20 h of treatment. CI treatment activated purified CD14+ monocytes and also enhanced the spontaneous activation of purified CD14-/dim iDC in culture. Unfractionated MOMC, purified monocytes, and purified iDC displayed equivalently enhanced T cell-sensitizing efficiency following CI treatment. CD4+ T cell sensitization to keyhole limpet hemocyanin and CD8+ T cell sensitization to MART-1 melanoma-associated peptide were achieved in a single culture stimulation. Therefore, circulating monocytes and iDC can be induced by CI to manifest properties of activated DC, providing large numbers of efficient, nontransformed autologous APC for T cell sensitization strategies.
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PMID:Calcium ionophore-treated peripheral blood monocytes and dendritic cells rapidly display characteristics of activated dendritic cells. 937 70

We compared HLA class II expression in a human melanoma line (a nonprofessional APC), induced by IFN-gamma or by stable transfection with CIITA, with constitutive class II expression in an EBV-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell line (a professional APC) from the same donor. IFN-gamma-induced and CIITA-transfected melanoma cells expressed DR, DP, and DQ at levels similar to those expressed by the professional APC; however, DP and DQ proteins and DM-dependent DR epitopes were delayed in appearing on the cell surface when induced by IFN-gamma. The delay in cell surface expression of some IFN-gamma-induced class II epitopes was observed even though Northern blots demonstrated class II and DM genes to be coordinately transcribed and their mRNA levels to be equivalent to that in B lymphoblastoid cells. Confocal microscopy suggests that discoordinate cell surface expression of class II results from different intracellular trafficking for IFN-gamma-induced class II proteins in the melanoma line compared with that in professional APCs. Specifically, although DR and DM proteins were present 2 days after IFN-gamma induction, colocalization of DR and DM proteins intracellularly was not apparent in cells at any time after induction. Failure of DR and DM proteins to colocalize suggests that IFN-gamma-induced cells lack an intracellular MIIC-like compartment. The absence of a compartment containing DR and DM to facilitate interaction between the two proteins may account for the delayed surface expression of class II epitopes whose formation requires both class II and DM.
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PMID:Discoordinate surface expression of IFN-gamma-induced HLA class II proteins in nonprofessional antigen-presenting cells with absence of DM and class II colocalization. 953 Dec 76


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