Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Abstract

EDDR1 is a Potential Immunotherapeutic Antigen in Ovarian, Breast, and Prostate Cancer

Gomathinayagam Sinnathamby, Jennifer Zerfass, Julie Hafner, Peter Block, Zacharie Nickens, Amy Hobeika, Angeles Alvarez Secord, H. Kim Lyerly, Michael A. Morse and Ramila Philip

Selection of suitable antigens, preferably targets for cell mediated and humoral immune response is a critical step in the development of cancer vaccines. Cell surface proteins that are over-expressed in cancer cells thus constitute a very attractive class of antigens that can be targeted for effective cancer immunotherapy. Toward this goal, we characterized the relevance of Epithelial Discoidin Domain Receptor 1 (EDDR1) for such targeted therapeutics. EDDR1, a membrane expressed protein associated with adhesion, has recently emerged as a new therapeutic target in several tumor types. In the present study, we analyzed the expression profile of EDDR1 in a variety of normal and cancer cells of human origin by flow cytometry as well as immunohistochemistry. EDDR1 was found to be abundantly expressed on the surface of ovarian, prostate and breast cancer cells but not on the normal counterparts, making it a suitable candidate for antibody mediated therapy. Furthermore, a Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) A2-restricted epitope derived from EDDR1 was efficiently presented by various cancer cells to EDDR1 epitope-specific T cells. Collectively, our data present evidence that EDDR1 could be a potential target antigen for immunotherapy.