THURSDAY, April 15, 2004 (HealthDayNews) --
The cancer-specific protein SSX-2 induces the immune system to attack malignant cells in people with melanoma skin cancer.
The finding offers scientists a new target for development of therapeutic melanoma vaccine, says a study published in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The discovery was made by scientists from the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative (CVC), a partnership between the Cancer Research Institute and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
SSX-2 belongs to a larger group of proteins called cancer/testis (CT) antigens, which are expressed in cancer cells and on normal testes. However, the immune system only recognizes CT antigens when they're present on cancer cells.
This specific immune system response to CT antigens on cancer cells has prompted many researchers to explore the use of vaccines against CT antigens as cancer therapies.
"SSX-2 is a particularly good target for a cancer vaccine," study senior author Dr. Danila Valmori, an assistant member at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, said in a prepared statement.
"We found that patients are mounting their own immunological responses against cancer cells expressing SSX-2, and although these spontaneously occurring immunological responses are apparently not sufficient for stopping tumor growth, possibly because they develop late in the disease progression, we think that a vaccine that stimulates and amplifies this naturally occurring attack will have a good chance of giving a clinical response," Valmori said.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about melanoma skin cancer.
