Sarcoma Antigen 1 (SAGE1)

SAGE1 belongs to a class of genes that are activated in tumors. Several classes of tumor antigens recognized by cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTLs) have been identified, including an important class encoded by genes that are activated in tumors. The antigens appear to be strictly tumor-specific, because the spermatogenic cells that express these tumors do not express HLA molecules and are therefore incapable of presenting antigens to T cells. As these genes are expressed in a large proportion of tumors of various histologic types, they may be excellent sources of antigens for cancer immunotherapy.SAGE encodes a putative 904-amino acid protein that contains 15 repeated motifs of 47 amino acids. Northern blot analysis detected expression of a 3.5-kb SAGE transcript mainly in bladder carcinoma, lung carcinoma, and head and neck carcinoma; no expression was detected in normal tissue except for testis.