Identification of HLA-A*0201-Restricted T Cell Epitopes Derived from the Novel Overexpressed Tumor Antigen Calcium-Activated Chloride Channel 2

Abstract Vaccination against tumor Ags may become a promising treatment modality especially in cancer types where other therapeutic approaches fail. However, diversity of tumors requires that a multitude of Ags become available. Differential expression in normal vs cancerous tissues, both at the mRNA and the protein level, may identify Ag candidates. We have previously compared transcripts from squamous cell lung cancer and normal lung tissue using differential display analysis, and found a transcript that was overexpressed in malignant cells and was identical with the calcium-activated chloride channel 2 (CLCA2) gene. We have now selected HLA-A2-restricted peptides from CLCA2, and have gen…