Vaccines targeting carcinoembryonic antigen under investigation.(Brief Article)

2002 JUL 3 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS, senior medical writer - Scientists in Canada find carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) an attractive target for cancer vaccines because T-lymphocytes are able to lyse tumor cells carrying CEA epitopes.

CEA is a member of a group of structurally similar glycoproteins, called the immunoglobulin supergene family, that facilitate antigen recognition and cellular communications. CEA has been implicated in tumorigenesis, making it of interest to the development of therapeutic vaccines.

N.L. Berinstein, at the Toronto Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Center in Toronto, Canada, reviewed the literature on CEA and the success of vaccines targeted at the antigen.

"Tolerance to CEA in patients with cancer can be overcome with several different vaccination approaches, and such vaccinations are safe and immunologically active," reported Berinstein.

Recombinant CEA proteins and CEA anti-idiotype antibodies are examples of therapeutic cancer vaccines exploiting the properties of CEA. These approaches stimulate mainly a humoral response (Carcinoembryonic antigen as a target for therapeutic anticancer vaccines: A review, Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2002;20(8):2197-2207).

Another vaccine uses dendritic cells pulsed with agonist epitopes of CEA, which has induced CD4 and CD8 responses, stabilized disease, and even produced clinically significant improvement.

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