Human tumour antigens recognized by T cells: new perspectives for anti-cancer vaccines?

Cytolytic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) mediate tumour rejection in several animal models. In humans, presuming that T cells might be able to eradicate cancer cells as effectively as they eliminate virus-infected cells, an exciting challenge for tumour immunologists is (1) to identify specific CTL-targeted antigens on these cancer cells and (2) to manipulate these antigens so that they can initiate or amplify the patient's native immune response, which would otherwise be insufficient. This review focuses on the identification of several tumour antigens, their molecular nature, and how they can be used to develop anti-cancer vaccines.