Immune responses to DNA mismatch repair enzymes hMSH2 and hPMS1 in patients with pancreatic cancer, dermatomyositis and polymyositis

To identify tumor antigens useful for diagnosis and immunotherapy of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, we applied a SEREX approach with a cDNA library made from 5 pancreatic cancer cell lines and sera obtained from 8 patients with pancreatic cancer, and isolated total 32 genes, including 14 previously characterized genes and 18 genes with unknown functions. Among these isolated antigens, serum IgG antibodies for 2 isolated DNA mismatch repair enzymes, Homo sapiens mutS homolog 2 (HMSH2) and Homo sapiens postmeiotic segregation increased 1 (hPMS1), were detected in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and dermatomyositis (DM), and polymyositis (PM), but not in sera from healthy individuals. Immunohistochemical study demonstrated that hMSH2 and hPMS1 were over-expressed in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma compared to normal pancreatic ducts. These results suggested that hMSH2 and hPMS1 may be useful as CD4+ helper T cell antigens for immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer patients and that serum IgG antibodies may be useful for diagnosis of patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and DM/PM.