This study was designed to determine whether the adjacent upstream transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) locus, TAP2, constitutes the centromeric boundary of disease susceptibility in melanoma.
In the present study, we HLA-genotyped and identified at a biochemical level the three (HLA-A25, -B8, -Cw7) class I alleles expressed by the previously described [D'Urso CM et al (1992) J Clin Invest 87: 284-292] beta2m-defective human melanoma FO-1 cell line and tested their ability to interact with calnexin, calreticulin and the TAP (transporter associated with antigen processing) complex.
Therefore, TAP expression restores both antigen presentation and immunogenicity in A375 melanoma cells and concomitantly increases IL-12 and IFN-gamma production in tumor antigen-specific CTLs; TAP should be considered as a part of the immunotherapies for MM.