Identification of DR9-restricted XAGE antigen on lung adenocarcinoma recognized by autologous CD4 T-cells.

We previously demonstrated a dominant IgG response against XAGE-1b antigen in a lung cancer patient by serological analysis of antigens by recombinant expression cloning (SEREX) analysis using a cDNA library from the autologous OU-LU-6 tumor cell line. In this study, we investigated recognition of XAGE-1b on OU-LU-6 tumor by the patient CD4-expressing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (CD4 TIL). The response of CD4 TIL obtained from malignant pleural effusion was determined against autologous OU-LU-6 tumor cells and XAGE-1b mRNA-transfected PHA-stimulated CD4 T-cells (T-APC) from healthy individuals sharing HLA-DR with the patient by performing IFNgamma secretion and ELISPOT assays. The patient CD4 TIL recognized OU-LU-6 in an HLA-DR-restricted manner and XAGE-1b mRNA-transfected T-APC derived from DRB1 *0901-sharing healthy donor (HD)1 and HD2, but not DRB1 *1101-sharing HD3 or HD4. Epitope analysis using 17 18-mer peptides with 12 overlapping amino acids revealed that the CD4 TIL recognized XAGE-1b 33-49. The findings suggest that the patient CD4 T-cells recognized the XAGE-1b 33-49-related epitope on autologous OU-LU-6 tumor cells in a manner restricted by DR *0901.