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Target Discovery and Validation Reviews and Protocols

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14<br />

An Overview of the Immune System <strong>and</strong> Technical<br />

Advances in Tumor Antigen <strong>Discovery</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Validation</strong><br />

Mouldy Sioud<br />

Summary<br />

The ability of the immune system to distinguish between self- <strong>and</strong> nonself antigens is controlled<br />

by mechanisms of central <strong>and</strong> peripheral tolerance. Although the induction <strong>and</strong> maintenance<br />

of tolerance is important for preventing autoimmunity, breaking self-tolerance is a<br />

crucial constituent for combating cancers. Cancer patients are able to develop spontaneous<br />

immune responses to tumors that they bear, however these responses are not suboptimal for<br />

eradicating tumors. Moreover, none of the current immune strategies is able to activate the<br />

immune system to respond against tumor cells as it responds against infectious agents. These<br />

observations have raised the question of how to activate immunity in cancer patients to a threshold<br />

required for tumor rejection. Because tolerance is emerging as a central obstacle for immune<br />

recognition of human tumor antigens, this chapter describes how T- <strong>and</strong> B-cells are generated<br />

<strong>and</strong> activated in the periphery. It also outlines the technical advances in tumor antigen discovery<br />

<strong>and</strong> validation.<br />

Key Words: B-cell development; B-cell receptor; dendritic cells; genomics; germinal center;<br />

immune tolerance; immunoediting; phage display; proteomics; serological analysis of recombinant<br />

tumor cDNA expression libraries (SEREX); T-cell development; T-cell receptor; tumor antigens.<br />

1. Introduction<br />

The primary function of the immune system is to defend the body against<br />

pathogenic microorganisms. The self–nonself (SNS) discrimination model<br />

assumes that the “foreign-ness” of a particular entity is what triggers the activation<br />

of innate <strong>and</strong> adaptive responses (1). Given the vast number of genetic<br />

<strong>and</strong> epigenetic changes associated with carcinogenesis, it becomes evident that<br />

tumors express many neoantigens that should be recognized by the immune<br />

system. In this respect, antibodies against a large repertoire of tumor-associated<br />

From: Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 360, <strong>Target</strong> <strong>Discovery</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Validation</strong> <strong>Reviews</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Protocols</strong><br />

Volume I, Emerging Strategies for <strong>Target</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Biomarker <strong>Discovery</strong><br />

Edited by: M. Sioud © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ<br />

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