PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Zarour, Hassane M.
AU  - Maillere, Bernard
AU  - Brusic, Vladimir
AU  - Coval, Kara
AU  - Williams, Eileen
AU  - Pouvelle-Moratille, Sandra
AU  - Castelli, Florence
AU  - Land, Stephanie
AU  - Bennouna, Jaafar
AU  - Logan, Theodore
AU  - Kirkwood, John M.
TI  - NY-ESO-1 119–143 Is a Promiscuous Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II T-Helper Epitope Recognized by Th1- and Th2-Type Tumor-reactive CD4+ T Cells
DP  - 2002 Jan 01
TA  - Cancer Research
PG  - 213--218
VI  - 62
IP  - 1
4099  - http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/62/1/213.short
4100  - http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/62/1/213.full
SO  - Cancer Res2002 Jan 01; 62
AB  - The NY-ESO-1 gene product is expressed by a range of human tumors and is recognized by antibodies from sera of cancer patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors. The NY-ESO-1 gene also encodes several MHC class I- and MHC class II-restricted tumor epitopes recognized by T lymphocytes. In particular, we previously reported that the NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide contains at least two HLA-DRB1*0401-presented epitopes that are recognized by melanoma-reactive CD4+ T cells. Here we report that the NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide can be presented in the context of multiple HLA-DR alleles to stimulate tumor-reactive CD4+ T cells. The NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide is able to bind to several DR molecules. The NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide is also capable of inducing specific CD4+ T cells in vitro from peripheral blood lymphocytes of normal donors and patients with melanoma who express these HLA-DR alleles. These CD4+ T cells recognize NY-ESO-1+, HLA-matched or autologous melanoma cell lines, as well as autologous antigen-presenting cells fed with the NY-ESO-1 protein. We also demonstrate that the NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide stimulates in vitro both Th1-type and Th2-type CD4+ T-cell responses from peripheral blood lymphocytes of normal donors and melanoma patients. Taken together, these data suggest a key role of the NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide sequence in the induction of cellular and humoral responses against NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors. They support the relevance of cancer vaccine trials with the NY-ESO-1 119–143 peptide in the large number of cancer patients with NY-ESO-1-expressing tumors. ©2002 American Association for Cancer Research.