Kelly G Paulson, Andrew Tegeder, Christoph Willmes, Jayasri G Iyer, Olga K Afanasiev, David Schrama, Shinichi Koba, Renee Thibodeau, Kotaro Nagase, William T Simonson, Aaron Seo, David M Koelle, Margaret Madeleine, Shailender Bhatia, Hideki Nakajima, Shigetoshi Sano, James S Hardwick, Mary L Disis, Michele A Cleary, Jürgen C Becker, Paul Nghiem
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive, polyomavirus-associated skin cancer. Robust cellular immune responses are associated with excellent outcomes in patients with MCC, but these responses are typically absent. We determined the prevalence and reversibility of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) downregulation in MCC, a potentially reversible immune-evasion mechanism. Cell-surface MHC-I expression was assessed on five MCC cell lines using flow cytometry as well as immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays representing 114 patients...
November 2014: Cancer Immunology Research