Conclusion
More than two-thirds of breast cancers would be covered by a vaccine directed against just three CTAGs - CTAG1, BAGE1, and MAGEA10 - all of which are known to be targets of cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte responses.
Methods
Breast tumours were collected sequentially in the Southampton Tumour Bank from donors who had given written informed consent. Stored samples where there was sufficient material were sampled in sequence. An initial series of 42 tumours was screened for expression of 17 different CTAGs. A second panel of 40 tumours was screened for the expression of those antigens present in the first panel.
Results
Ninety-three per cent of tumours in the first series expressed at least one CTAG, and 62% expressed the single antigen CTAG1. Eighty per cent of tumours in the second series expressed at least one CTAG, 50% expressing CTAG1. Tumours exhibiting higher risk features tended to express more CTAGs.