Fol. Biol. 2003, 49, 95-99
Prospects for Immunotherapy of MHC Class I-Deficient Tumours
Cancer usually develops by a multistep process, characterized by the accumulation of genetic events within the tumour cell. These events are frequently associated with the activation of genes that are not normally expressed in somatic cells, with loss of function of the genes that are normally expressed in somatic cells and with mutations within these genes. The representatives of the newly activated genes have been designated as genes coding for tumour-associated antigens (TAA); the most important genes belonging to the deleted, downregulated or silenced genes are those encoding major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that a high proportion (approximately 40-90%) of tumours derived from MHC class I+ precursors are MHC class I deficient (for a review, see Garrido et al., 1997; Seliger et al., 1998; Tait, 2000; Campoli et al., 2002).
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