PASD1 Immunotherapy: Shadows and Lights
By: Nor Adzimah Johdi (adzimah@ppukm.ukm.edu.my)
Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) have restricted normal tissue expression and can be recognised by the immune system of patients suffering from various cancer conditions. Therefore, they may represent excellent immunotherapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer. PASD1 has been identified as an immunogenic novel CTA expressed in a wide range of haematological malignancies, in cell lines derived from a variety of carcinomas and in primary tumour biopsies from gastric, lung, breast carcinomas and melanomas. Here, we aim to validate PASD1 as an immunotherapeutic target in colorectal cancer and identify the most effective peptides for inclusion in a potential cancer vaccine formulation. The successful outcome of this project should lead to the initiation of Phase I/II clinical trials through the identification of the most clinically relevant PASD1 peptide targets and the cancer patients that are likely to respond best to the immunotherapeutic targeting of PASD1.
