Identification of α‐fetoprotein‐derived peptides recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes in HLA‐A24+ patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) has been proposed as a potential target forT-cell-based immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the number of its epitopes that have been identified is limited and the status of AFP-specific immunological responses in HCC patients has not been well-characterized. To address the issue, we examined the possibility of inducing AFP-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) using novel HLA-A*2402-restricted T-cell epitopes (HLA, human leukocyte antigen) derived from AFP and then analyzed the relationship between its frequency of occurrence and clinical features associated with patients having HCC. Five AFP-derived peptides containing HLA-A*2402 binding motifs and showing high binding affinity to HLA-A*2402 induced CTLs to produce IFN-gamma and kill an AFP-producing hepatoma cell line. The frequency of AFP-specific CTLs was 30-190 per 1 x 10(6) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which was the same as that of other immunogenic cancer associated antigen-derived epitopes. Analyses of the relationships between AFP-specific CTL responses and clinical features of patients with HCC revealed that AFP epitopes were more frequently recognized by CTLs in patients with advanced HCC correlating to tumor factors or the stage of TNM classification. The analyses of CTL responses before and after HCC treatments showed that the treatments changed the frequency of AFP-specific CTLs. In conclusion, we identified five HLA-A*2402-restricted T-cell epitopes derived from AFP. The newly identified AFP epitopes could be a valuable component of HCC immunotherapy and for analyzing host immune responses to HCC.