Isolation and identification of renal cell carcinoma-derived peptides associated with GP96

We determined the possible associated determinants and analyzed whether gp96-_associated antigenic peptides can be found in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The gp96-peptide complexes were chromatographically purified from resected tumor tissue of RCC patients. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis confirmed gp96 using the gp96 monoclonal antibody, and its concentration was measured using BCA. Approximately 20 to 50 μg gp96-peptide complexes was obtained from 1 g RCC tissue. The mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of the eluted peptides included the initial profiling using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight MS. Quadrupole time-of-flight MS combined with the Mascot search engine was used to identify the peptides and find proteins from primary sequence databases. MS analysis results demonstrated that the mass range of peptide associated with gp96 was from 1046.48 to 3501.56 Da. Further research confirmed the sequences of two gp96-associated peptides, namely, LVPLEGWGGNVM and PPVYYVPYVVL. However, the original protein of the two peptides could not be found. The results demonstrated that the gp96-associated peptides are small molecular peptides, and the two peptides are deduced to be RCC-associated peptides. The identified peptides were confirmed to be associated with gp96 using the protocols described above. However, the specificity and relevance of the association to the immunogenicity of gp96 remains to be examined. Further analysis must be accomplished before the findings can be applied in peptide vaccine.