Abstract

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens, of which more than 40 have now been identified, are encoded by genes that are normally expressed only in the human germ line, but are also expressed in various tumour types, including melanoma, and carcinomas of the bladder, lung and liver. These immunogenic proteins are being vigorously pursued as targets for therapeutic cancer vaccines. CT antigens are also being evaluated for their role in oncogenesis — recapitulation of portions of the germline gene-expression programme might contribute characteristic features to the neoplastic phenotype, including immortality, invasiveness, immune evasion, hypomethylation and metastatic capacity.

Author affiliations

1. Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, New York Branch at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA.
2. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10158, USA.

Correspondence to: Andrew J. G. Simpson¹ Email: asimpson@licr.org

Published online 20 July 2005

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