TEIPP peptides: exploration of unTAPped cancer antigens

Abstract

The intracellular peptide pump TAP feeds antigenic peptides for loading onto HLA class I molecules, and its down-modulation is a frequent immune evasion mechanism in human cancers. Two recent papers describe which ‘hidden‘ antigens we might exploit to target these escaped cancer variants by CD8 T cells. These unTAPped peptides are now ready for clinical testing.

Keywords

• t cells
• hla class i
• immunotherapy
• cancer antigens