ABSTRACT
Considerable effort has been expended on the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to tumor-specific antigens (TSAs), since it was thought that only mAbs specific for tumor cells would be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors. However, few if any mAbs prepared against human tumors have been found to be truly tumor-specific. Examples of antigens which could be considered to be TSAs include:
The idiotype of the antibody on a B-cell tumor (e.g., CLL). The first successful use of a mAb in tumor therapy involved treatment of a patient with anti-idiotype antibody 291prepared specifically against the patient’s tumor. This approach could also be used to treat T-cell tumors based on their expression of their unique binding site.
A mutant form of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) which has a deletion of an extracellular domain. That this molecule is antigenic and uniquely expressed on tumors, including glioblastomas, is the basis for approaches using an antibody-based therapeutic agent and for a vaccine to induce a CTL response.
As information becomes available on the mutations and translocations associated with various tumors, unique gene products are being identified that serve as TSAs.
