Journal of Stem Cell Research & Therapy

The identification of tumor antigens recognized by patients with Dukes� B reactive colorectal cancer

4^th International Conference and Exhibition on Cell & Gene Therapy

August 10-12, 2015 London, UK

Barbara-ann Guinn1, Viktoriya Boncheva1, Payalben Savaliyva1, Michael Linnebacher2, Gerald O� Sullivan3 and Mark Tangney3

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Stem Cell Res Ther

Abstract:

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in both men and women posing a serious
demographic and economic burden worldwide. Studies have identified two sub-groups of post-treatment CRC patients,
those with good outcome (reactive disease) and those with poor outcome (non-reactive disease). Evidence indicates that the
presence of an effective immune response differentiates these two groups of patients. To investigate these underlying differences
we immunoscreened a testes cDNA library with sera from three patients with Dukes’ B reactive disease (CC005, CC010 and
CC014). We identified nine antigens including IGHG3, IGHG2, ZNF465 and CYB5R3 gene which encode NADH-cytochrome
b5 reductase 3 proteins. Immunoscreening with sera from patients and normal donors identified a short-list of antigens for
further analyses. Eight of the antigens (all except IGHG2) have been previously studied in association with various types
of cancer and their significance was either confirmed or speculated. To date, only two of them (SH3RF2 and DAPK1) have
been linked to colon cancer. In addition, Ribosomal protein L37a (RPL37A) has previously been shown to be up-regulated
in astrocytoma and to have a general association with lifetime and overall glioblastoma survival. We are now examining the
expression of these genes by immunocytochemistry in colon cancer samples.

Biography :

Barbara-ann Guinn is Deputy Director of the Research Graduate School and a Reader at the University of Bedfordshire. She completed her BSc in Genetics
from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and a PhD in Medicine from the University of Wales, College of Medicine; Cardiff. She undertook two Postdoctoral
Fellowships at the University of Toronto and senior fellowships at King’s College London and the University of Southampton. Her recent research has focused on
the characterisation of a urine biomarker for ovarian cancer as well as the identification of novel targets for immunotherapy in acute lymphocytic leukaemia and
colon cancer. Her group has worked to develop DNA vaccines for clinical trials and demonstrated the utility of tetramer arrays as clinical end-point assays.