Lymph node-targeted immunotherapy mediates potent immunity resulting in regression of isolated or metastatic human papillomavirus-transformed tumors.

Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the therapeutic potential of a novel immunotherapy strategy resulting in immunity to localized or metastatic human papillomavirus 16-transformed murine tumors.

Experimental Design: Animals bearing E7-expressing tumors were coimmunized by lymph node injection with E7 49-57 antigen and TLR3-ligand (synthetic dsRNA). Immune responses were measured by flow cytometry and antitumor efficacy was evaluated by tumor size and survival.

Expression hierarchy of T cell epitopes from melanoma differentiation antigens: unexpected high level presentation of tyrosinase-HLA-A2 Complexes revealed by peptide-specific, MHC-restricted, TCR-like antibodies.

Peptide Ags presented by class I MHC molecules on human melanomas and that are recognized by CD8(+) T cells are the subjects of many studies of antitumor immunity and represent attractive candidates for therapeutic approaches. However, no direct quantitative measurements exist to reveal their expression hierarchy on the cell surface. Using novel recombinant Abs which bind these Ags with a peptide-specific, MHC-restricted manner, we demonstrate a defined pattern of expression hierarchy of peptide-HLA-A2 complexes derived from three major differentiation Ags: gp100, Melan-A/Mart-1, and tyrosinase.

p16(INK4A) is a surrogate biomarker for a subset of human papilloma virus-associated dysplasias of the uterine cervix as determined on the Pap smear.

Recently, p16(INK4A) has been identified as a biomarker for human papilloma virus (HPV)-induced dysplastic lesions of the cervix and it has been suggested that it may be a useful diagnostic aid for these lesions. This study therefore was performed to determine the utility of p16 expression in a series of Papanicolaou (Pap) smears collected in liquid medium and to determine its benefit, if any, over HPV testing. One hundred seven cases, including 23 negative cases, 34 with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 16 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), 29 with atypical squamous cells of uncertain significance (ASC-US), and 5 cases with ASC suspicious for HSIL (ASC-H), were evaluated for both p16 expression and HPV DNA.