Toward a Genetic Analysis of Tumor Rejection Antigens

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents an integrated account of a genetic approach to the identification of tumor rejection antigens that has been pursued mainly in the laboratory. These results are presented in the context of the present understanding of antigen recognition by T lymphocytes. Considerable progress has been achieved recently in our understanding of antigen recognition by T lymphocytes. The major histocompatibility complex and the structures of its major protein products are known with a remarkable degree of precision both for mouse and for humans. Several viral antigens that induce tumor rejection have been identified with a great degree of precision because purified viral proteins and genomes are readily obtained. Biochemical fractionations of the tumor cell extracts in order to obtain purified tumor rejection antigens have been attempted. The fractions were tested for their ability to immunize mice so as to make them resistant to tumor challenge. The chapter focuses on the possibility of using a direct genetic approach to identify tumor rejection antigens encoded by the cellular genome. It describes the analysis of the genes coding for these antigens and its implications for T cellmediated immune surveillance, and a similar analysis of a gene coding for a tumor rejection antigen has been described.