Findings from a recent study involving the immune response appeared in the April 3 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine . In the study, mice were injected with a vaccine for melanoma that included an antigen known to be a target of the immune response in people with melanoma.
Antigens are markers on cells that act as microscopic flags.
The body's immune system is trained to read these flags, which show which cells are normal and which have been infected with viruses or have become cancerous. The mice carried a gene for a human protein that researchers thought would enable them to correctly interpret the flag. A significant immune response to the antigen was observed, showing that this was the case. We think that the ability to make an immune response to this antigen may be an important aspect of a patient's ability to control tumor growth. Developing a vaccine to combat melanoma is especially difficult because the antigen for melanoma is also present on normal skin, and the immune system is usually tolerant to antigens found in normal cells.