Discovery
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2007) 82, 734–739. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100369; published online 26 September 2007
Cancer Mucosa Antigens as a Novel Immunotherapeutic Class of Tumor-associated Antigen
A E Snook1, L C Eisenlohr2, J L Rothstein3 and S A Waldman1
- 1Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- 2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- 3Inflammation Research, Amgen Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA
Correspondence: SA Waldman, (scott.waldman@jefferson.edu)
Abstract
Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Surgery and chemoradiation exhibit incomplete efficacy and, ultimately, 50% of patients die of metastatic disease. In the context of that unmet clinical need, immunotherapeutic approaches have enjoyed limited success, partly because of a paucity of suitable antigen targets. However, exploitation of immune compartmentalization, employing antigens with expression restricted to normal intestinal mucosa and derivative colorectal tumors—cancer mucosa antigens (CMAs)—may represent a previously unrecognized class of immune targets supporting efficacious antitumor immunotherapy. Guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) is an intestine/colorectal cancer-restricted protein ideally suited as the first CMA for clinical evaluation.
