Cancer/testis antigens are a family of more than 100 proteins whose normal expression is largely restricted to immune privileged germ cells of the testis, ovary, and trophoblast cells of the placenta. Although most normal somatic tissues are void of CTA expression, due to epigenetic silencing of gene expression, their expression is upregulated in a wide variety of human solid and liquid tumors. As such, CTAs have garnered much attention as attractive targets for a variety of immunotherapy-based approaches to selectively attack tumors.Melanoma-associated antigen-A10 is a cancer testis antigen and belongs to the type I MAGE family of proteins. Unlike other members of the MAGE-A subfamily, MAGE-A10 is a nuclear protein. Research studies have shown that MAGE-A10 expression is normally restricted to the human testis and placenta but is aberrantly upregulated in a number of human solid tumors, such as lung cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, and esophageal carcinoma. Due to its upregulated expression in human tumors and high degree of immunogenicity, MAGE-A10 has received significant attention as a novel immunotherapy target through the use of vaccines and adoptive cell therapy.
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