MAGE-A11 (E2F1K) Rabbit mAb #99421

Cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) 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 (1,2). As such, CTAs have garnered much attention as attractive targets for a variety of immunotherapy-based approaches to selectively attack tumors (3).

Melanoma-associated antigen-11 (MAGE-A11) is a CTA that belongs to the type I MAGE family of proteins. In normal human tissues, MAGE-A11 expression is largely restricted to the placenta and germline cells of the testis (4). Like other type I MAGE family members, however, MAGE-A11 expression is often upregulated in many different types of human cancers, including lung cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and bladder cancer (5-7). Research studies have demonstrated that MAGE-A11 broadly functions as an oncogene by complexing with the HUWE1 E3 ubiquitin ligase. This molecular complex promotes the aberrant ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation of PCF11 and subsequent dysregulation of 3' UTR processing of mRNA transcripts encoding core components of oncogenic and tumor suppressor signaling pathways (4). Given the oncogenic role of MAGE-A11 in numerous cancer types and its restricted expression pattern, there is interest in targeting antigenic epitopes of MAGE-A11 presented in the context of class I MHC alleles using engineered TCRs (8,9).