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Relevance
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Human malignant neoplasms carry rejection antigens that are recognized by the patients autologous, tumor directed and specific, cytolytic, CD8+T lymphocyte clones (CTL). An important group of antigens is coded by the MAGE family of genes. It was identified that melanomas and primary glial brain tumors express common melanoma associated antigens (MAAs). Because MAGE-1 is expressed on a significant proportion of human neoplasms of various histological types (melanoma, brain tumors of glial origin, neuroblastoma, non-small cell lung cancer, breast, gastric, colorectal, ovarian, renal cell carcinomas) and not on normal tissues, the encoded antigen may serve as a marker of early detection and target for cancer immunotherapy.
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