Characterization of a human telomerase reverse transcriptase sequence containing two antigenic epitopes with high affinity for human leucocyte antigen

Almost all human malignant tumours exhibit strong telomerase activity, but normal adult tissues, with a few exceptions, do not. hTERT (human telomerase reverse transcriptase) is an essential component of telomerase, and hence it can serve as a parallel sign in the diagnosis and prognosis of cancers. In the present study, we selected a sequence of hTERT containing two antigenic epitopes that have high affinity for HLA-A2 (human leucocyte antigen-A2) as a TAA (tumour-associated antigen) based on a peptide-motif scoring system. The sequence was obtained by reverse-transcriptase PCR and cloned into the Escherichia coli expression vector pGEX-4T-1. The expression product appeared in the form of inclusion bodies. Denatured inclusion-body extract was subjected to SDS/PAGE, and the gel band corresponding to the putative 38 kDa fusion protein (GST-hTERT major tumour-associated antigen) was excised, ground with PBS, mixed with Freund's adjuvant and used to inoculate mice, generating anti-TERT polyclonal antibodies. Western blotting using the leukaemia cell line THP-1 demonstrated that the antibodies were able to detect hTERT expression, implying the potential applicability of the antigenic peptides derived from hTERT as a universal marker in the diagnosis and prognosis of tumours.