Local and systemic XAGE-1b-specific immunity in patients with lung adenocarcinoma

XAGE-1b is a cancer/testis antigen aberrantly expressed in pulmonary adenocarcinoma. Systemic antibody and T cell responses have been demonstrated in adenocarcinoma patients, but so far, local antigen-specific immunity has not been reported. In this study, XAGE-1b expression by tumor cells as well as the presence of systemic and/or local XAGE-1b-specific immunity was assessed in peripheral blood, tumor tissue and tumor-draining lymph nodes of Caucasian patients with pulmonary adenocarcinoma. XAGE-1b protein expression was detected in 43.6 % (17 of 39) of patients when at least two different parts of a resected tumor were assessed. In 20 patients, analysis of T cells isolated and expanded from the primary tumor and its draining lymph node demonstrated XAGE-1b-specific responses in two patients. XAGE-1b-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies were found in 3 of 40 patients. These three antibody-positive patients had also mounted a systemic T cell response to XAGE-1b, measured by proliferation, cytokine production and expression of T cell activation markers on peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The population of XAGE-1b-specific T cells comprised both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells secreting both type I and II cytokines. Epitope mapping showed that T cells predominantly targeted the N-terminal part of the XAGE-1b protein, while the B cell response was directed against the C-terminal domain. Our study for the first time provides evidence for the presence of XAGE-1b-specific T cells within adenocarcinoma tissue, which supports the concept that XAGE-1b acts as a genuine tumor antigen and, therefore, might form an attractive target for a vaccine-based approach of immunotherapy. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00262-015-1716-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.