Identification of Surface-Associated Antigens for Tumor Diagnosis and Therapy

摘要

An isolated truncated desmoglein 4 (DSG4) polypeptide splice variant of the invention is characterized by an amino acid sequence that lacks a region encoded before exon 9 or beyond exon 10 of the DSG4 gene having the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 75. Also disclosed is a method of diagnosing a cancer, or monitoring the course thereof, in a patient. The method comprises detecting in a tissue sample of a patient the expression of a tumor-associated antigen comprising the extracellular domain of a DSG4 polypeptide encoded by a DSG4 gene having the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 75, or a truncated DSG4 polypeptide splice variant characterized by an amino acid sequence that lacks a region encoded before exon 9 or beyond exon 10 of the DSG4 gene.