Patent ID: 8097242

Claim:
A method of treating cancer in a patient whose cancer cells express CA125 comprising: (a) contacting dendritic cells with a purified peptide comprising an HLA-binding CA125 peptide of 7-12 amino acid residues to generate peptide-loaded dendritic cells; (b) contacting the peptide-loaded dendritic cells with T cells of the cancer patient to amplify CD8+ T cells that recognize the CA125 peptide; and (c) contacting the amplified CD8+ T cells with CA125-bearing cancer cells in the patient to lyse the CA125-bearing cancer cells; wherein the CA125 peptide binds to a human class I HLA protein, wherein when the CA125 peptide is bound to the HLA protein on the surface of dendritic cells to generate peptide-loaded dendritic cells, and the peptide-loaded dendritic cells are contacted with T cells, the peptide-loaded dendritic cells amplify CD8+ T cells that lyse autologous cells expressing CA125 in vivo or in vitro; wherein the purified peptide comprises SEQ ID NO:7, SEQ ID NO:10, SEQ ID NO:11, or SEQ ID NO:12; wherein the purified peptide is 7 to 50 amino acid residues in length.