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Telomerase as a universal tumor-associated antigen for cancer immunotherapy

Abstract

Although the search for pharmacologic inhibitors of telomerase activity represents a promising approach for telomerase-based anti-cancer therapy, the immunological properties of the telomerase reverse transcriptase hTERT suggest that the enzyme is also an attractive target for novel immunotherapies against cancer. Data from both human and murine systems demonstrate that cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) can recognize peptides derived from TERT and kill TERT-positive tumor cells of multiple histologies. Given the vast overexpression of hTERT in human tumors and its low-level expression in rare normal tissues, clinical trials have begun that test the credentials of hTERT as a broadly applicable target for immunotherapy of cancer.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Drs JL Schultze, WC Hahn and LM Nadler for their valuable contributions to this project and gratefully acknowledge Drs WN Haining and SM Domchek for their critical review of the manuscript. This project is supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fund Clinical Investigator Award.

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Vonderheide, R. Telomerase as a universal tumor-associated antigen for cancer immunotherapy. Oncogene 21, 674–679 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1205074

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