Kita Kyushu Lung Cancer Antigen 1 (KKLC1)

Fukuyama et al. (2006) generated cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) clones from regional lymph node lymphocytes of a patient with lung adenocarcinoma and isolated a CTL clone, which they called H1, that had HLA-B*1507-restricted cytotoxic activity on the autologous adenocarcinoma cell line. Fukuyama et al. (2006) isolated KKLC1, which encodes a protein of 113 amino acids. RT-PCR analysis of normal human tissues detected expression exclusively in testis. KKLC1 mRNA expression was detected in 9 of 18 allogeneic nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and in 40 of 100 NSCLC specimens, including 23 (38%) of 60 adenocarcinomas and 14 (45%) of 31 squamous cell carcinomas. They identified amino acids 76 to 84 (RQKRILVNL) of KKLC1 as the epitope peptide recognized by the autologous H1 CTL clone.