ABSTRACT
Summary NY-ESO-1 is one of the most immunogenic tumor antigens known to date. NY-ESO-1 belongs to the category of “Cancer-Testis” CT antigens according to the gene expression patterns in different types of cancer and normal germ cells. NY-ESO-1 was identified with the SEREX method from an esophageal cancer cDNA library (Chen et al., 1997). Later, it was shown that high-titered antibody responses against NY-ESO-1 were found in patients with NY-ESO-1 cancers. A close positive correlation was observed for antibody titers and the clinical development of NY-ESO-1 disease ( Jäger et al., 1999). The identification of peptide epitopes recognized by CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes in the context of different MHC class I and II alleles has set the basis for the specific monitoring of spontaneous and vaccine-induced cellular immune responses against NY-ESO-1 (Wang et al., 1998; Gnjatic et al., 2000; Zarour et al., 2000; Jäger et al., 2000b; Zeng et al., 2001). Integrated immune responses with detectable serum antibody and T-cell reactivity against NY-ESO-1 are found in approximately 50% of patients with NY-ESO-1 cancers (Stockert et al., 1998; Jäger et al., 2000d). Immunization with HLA-A2 restricted NY-ESO-1 peptides has led to strong primary CD8 T-cell responses in patients with different NY-ESO-1 cancers ( Jäger et al., 2000a). The high frequency of spontaneous NY-ESO-1 immunity, the close correlation between humoral and cellular immune responses against NY-ESO-1 and the high immunogenicity of NY-ESO-1 derived peptides renders NY-ESO-1 to be a model antigen in cancer immunology today.
