Tumor specific expression of survivin-2B in lung cancer as a novel target of immunotherapy

Background: Survivin-2B is reported to be specifically expressed in numerous malignant tissues. Furthermore, survivin-2B includes the epitope peptide (survivin-2B(80-88)) which is capable of binding to HLA-A24. In this study, we evaluated whether survivin-2B could be a novel vaccine target against lung cancer. Method: (1) The differences in the survivin-2B expression between 15 sets of lung cancer tissues and normal lung tissues were investigated using RT-PCR. (2) The expression of survivin-2B was further examined in 42 lung cancer tissues, and the relationship between the expression and clinicopathologic factors was analyzed. (3) To compare the frequency of precursor CTL between survivin-2B positive and negative lung cancer patients, surivivin-2B(80-88) peptide-specific CTL were induced from regional lymph node lymphocytes (LNL) of four HLA-A24 (+) lung cancer patients, in whom two showed a positive survivin-2B expression of lung cancer while another two were negative, after stimulation with surivivin-2B(80-88). Results: Survivin-2B was specifically expressed in lung cancer tissues, and was expressed in 17 of 42 lung cancer tissues (42.9%). Histologically, it was significantly more frequently expressed in squamous cell carcinoma than in adenocarcinoma (p = 0.014). The frequency of precursor CTL in LNL was approximately one in 2.0 x 10(7) in patients with survivin-2B expression (-) lung cancer, however, it was one in 5.0 x 10(6) to 6.0 x 10(6) in those with survivin-2B expression (+) lung cancer. Conclusions: Survivin-2B was specifically expressed in lung cancer tissue, and found to specifically elicit a cellular immune response in lung cancer patients and therefore it may be a novel candidate for peptide vaccination. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.