Allogenic screening of tumor antigens from thyroid cancer cDNA libraries

Abstract

The search for novel tumor-associated antigens eliciting humoral and cellular immune responses in tumor patients is an important goal in cancer diagnosis and immunotherapy. We utilized SEREX immunoscreening methodology to identify a set of novel tumor antigens, associated with thyroid cancer. 16 distinct antigens reactive with autologous sera were identified by SEREX analysis of two cDNA libraries from patients with papillar carcinoma of thyroid gland. SEREX-defined antigens were evaluated by allogenic screening with sera samples from normal donors, patients with thyroid, colon and breast cancer. The analysis showed that 8 antigens reacted exclusively with autologous sera, 2 antigens (KY-THY-25 and KY-THY-40) were recognized by sera from patients with thyroid and breast cancer (10 % and 2.4 % respectively) while the other antigens cross-reacted with the sera from both normal donors and cancer patients. KY-THY-17 (zinc finger protein), KY-THY-28 (transducer of ERBB2) and KY-THY-29 (solid tumor associated protein) exhibited high immunoreactivity with sera from patients with thyroid, breast and colon cancer, when compared with the sera from normal donors. These antigens are potential candidates for the development of novel diagnostic and immunotherapeutic approaches in cancer.