Induction of immunogenicity of a human renal-cell carcinoma cell line byTAP1-gene transfer

Reduced expression of the major-histocompatibility-complex(MHC)-class-I antigens has been demonstrated in renal-cell carcinoma (RCC), and appeared to be associated with deficiencies in the expression and function of different components of the MHC-class-I-antigen-processing pathway and poor recognition by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). In order to investigate the role of peptide transporters for the immunogenic phenotype of RCC, tumor cells were stably transfected with the human TAP1A gene. While the TAP1 transfectants showed heterogeneous TAP1-transgene expression pattern of mRNA and protein, high TAP1 expression and a TAP-controlled increase in MHC-class-I surface expression could be achi…