Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Monoclonal and polyclonal humoral immune response to EC HER-2/neu peptides with low similarity to the host's proteome

  • New York Medical College
  • University of Bari

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

We are studying peptide immunogenicity as a function of the similarity level to the host's proteome. By using as a model the breast/prostate cancer-associated HER-2/neu antigen, we analyzed the monoclonal and polyclonal humoral immune responses against HER-2/neu peptide motifs not shared with the host proteome. We show here that (i) a mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) raised against the extra-cellular domain (EC) of human HER-2/neu oncoprotein recognized a linear peptide motif endowed with low similarity level to the mouse proteome; (ii) likewise, human sera from breast/prostate cancer patients preferentially recognized peptide fragments from the EC of the HER-2/neu oncoprotein having sequences that are not present in the human proteome. Together with previous results obtained in other disease models (cervical cancer-associated HPV16 E7 oncoprotein and Pemphigus vulgaris auto-antigen desmoglein-3), the present data suggest that a low level of sequence similarity to the host's proteome might be an important factor in shaping the pool of B cell epitopes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)741-747
Number of pages7
JournalInternational Journal of Cancer
Volume98
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 10 2002

Keywords

  • Breast/prostate cancer
  • Epitope prediction
  • HER-2/neu
  • Molecular mimicry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Monoclonal and polyclonal humoral immune response to EC HER-2/neu peptides with low similarity to the host's proteome'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this