Identification of a Melanoma Marker Derived from Melanoma-Associated Endogenous Retroviruses

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Vol. 66; no. 3; pp. 1658 - 1663
• Main Authors: Humer, Johannes, Waltenberger, Andrea, Grassauer, Andreas, Kurz, Martin, Valencak, Julia, Rapberger, Ronald, Hahn, Silvia, Löwer, Roswitha, Wolff, Klaus, Bergmann, Michael, Muster, Thomas, Mayer, Bernd, Pehamberger, Hubert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia, PA American Association for Cancer Research 01.02.2006
• Subjects: Antibodies, Neoplasm - blood; Antibodies, Neoplasm - immunology; Antineoplastic agents; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarkers, Tumor - immunology; Cross Reactions; Dermatology; Endogenous Retroviruses - immunology; Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte - immunology; HeLa Cells; Humans; Immunodominant Epitopes - immunology; Immunotherapy; Medical sciences; Melanoma - blood; Melanoma - immunology; Melanoma - pathology; Melanoma - virology; Neoplasm Staging; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Tumors of the skin and soft tissue. Premalignant lesions; Viral Envelope Proteins - immunology; Antineoplastic agent; Virus; Endogenous; Immune response; Antibody; Immunotherapy; Melanoma associated endogenous retrovirus; Malignant melanoma; Biological marker; Malignant tumor; Diagnosis; Humoral immunity
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445
• DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-2452

We previously described the expression of melanoma-associated endogenous retrovirus (MERV) proteins and viral particles in human melanomas and metastases. The objective of the present study was to determine whether a humoral immune response to MERV proteins occurs in melanoma. Candidate B-cell epitopes on MERV proteins were predicted using bioinformatic screening. The reactivity of MERV peptides corresponding to the predicted epitopes with antibodies prevalent in sera of melanoma patients was analyzed. An immunodominant peptide located in the env protein of MERV was identified. Subsequent analyzes using 81 samples from stage I to stage IV melanoma patients and 95 sera from healthy subjects revealed statistically significant differences in seroprevalence of antibodies in melanoma sera samples when compared with reference samples from healthy subjects. The prevalence of anti-MERV antibodies in melanoma patient sera was confirmed by immunofluorescence on env-transfected cells. These data indicate the potential of this candidate peptide as target for diagnosis and immunotherapy. (Cancer Res 2006; 66(3): 1658-63)