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This Article Free via Open Access: OA OA Full Text Full Text (PDF) OA All Versions of this Article: 2006-0469v1 25/3/707    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints/Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Costa, F. F. Articles by Brodin, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Costa, F. F. Articles by Brodin, B.

TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL RESEARCH

Concise Review: Cancer/Testis Antigens, Stem Cells, and Cancer

^aCancer Biology and Epigenomics Program, Children's Memorial Research Center and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA;
^bCenter for Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation, Division of Clinical Immunology, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden;
^cCellular and Molecular Tumor Pathology, Cancer Centrum Karolinska, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Key Words. Cancer/testis antigens • Mesenchymal stem cells • Cancer stem cells • Cancer and therapeutics

Correspondence: Fabrício F. Costa, Ph.D., Children's Memorial Research Center–Cancer Biology and Epigenomics, 2300 Children's Plaza Box 220, Chicago, Illinois 60614-3394, USA. Telephone: 773-880-4000 ext 57402; Fax: 773-755-6551; e-mail: fcosta{at}childrensmemorial.org

Received July 26, 2006; accepted for publication November 17, 2006.
First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS   November 30, 2006.



In the multistep process of cancer development, the concept that cancer stem cells are derived from normal stem cells that have gradually accumulated various genetic and epigenetic defects is gaining strong evidence. A number of investigations have identified molecular markers that, under normal conditions, are responsible for stem cell homeostasis but are also expressed in tumor "stem cell-like" subpopulations. In this regard, it was recently reported that a group of tumor-specific antigens known as cancer/testis antigens (CTAs) are expressed in human MSCs. It has long been stated that in normal tissue these antigens are exclusively expressed in germ cell precursors; however, based on these results, we suggest that CTAs are expressed at earlier stages during embryogenesis. The tumor-restricted expression of CTAs has led to several immunotherapeutic trials targeting some of these proteins. The clinical implications that these trials may have on the normal stem cell pools, as well as the immunologic properties of these cells, is to date poorly studied and should be considered.