BioCentury
ARTICLE | Tools & Techniques

Understanding the translation

October 16, 2006 7:00 AM UTC

The idea of tumor-specific antigens is hardly new, but much of the work has focused on the expression of a mutant gene that produces a mutant protein, which then serves as an epitope. Another approach has been demonstrated by papers published separately in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Science, which describe ways to identify tumor-specific antigens that are generated by post-translational modifications of wild-type proteins.

The PNAS paper demonstrates the potential of using class I MHC-associated phosphopeptides, which are generated through the degradation of intracellular proteins, as components of cancer immunotherapeutics that could potentially raise T cell responses against cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed...