Identification of tumor antigens recognized by T cells and their use for analysis of anti-tumor responses

One of the problems in the development of immunotherapy in the past was poor evaluation of anti-tumor immune responses. Consequently, it was difficult to improve the immunotherapy. Various human tumor antigens recognized by T cells have recently been identified using various methods, including cDNA expression cloning with tumor reactive T cells and antibodies, as well as various cDNA subtraction methods in combination with in vitro T cell induction. The identification of tumor antigenic peptides recognized by T cells allows us to monitor anti-tumor T cell response quantitatively and qualitatively during immunotherapy as well as to develop more efficient immunotherapy with a sufficient amount of antigens in more immunogenic forms.