Oct. 5, 2006 -- When normal skin cells become a melanoma tumor, they sometimes turn on genes not usually found in the skin. According to researchers at the University of Virginia Health System, some of these genes are normally active in the male testis at the time sperm are formed.
 
The genes, called cancer-testis antigens, could be useful targets for drugs that could selectively kill a melanoma tumor, while sparing the rest of the body’s tissues. The antigens could also help researchers develop a vaccine to stimulate the immune system to attack and suppress melanoma tumors.
 
“Scientists are beginning to see patterns in the profile of genes expressed in individual tumor cells,” said John C. Herr, Ph.D., professor of cell biology at U.Va. and a scientist at the U.Va. Cancer Center. ” Patients who express a given cancer-testis antigen may eventually be helped by such selective therapies. This scenario represents one aspect of the growing opportunities envisioned for personalized medicine.”
 
Scientists at the U.Va. Cancer Center have studied melanoma tumors from patients at various stages of the disease over the last few years. They discovered that more than half of these tumors made the cancer-testis antigens, called SPANX proteins. In a study published in the Sept. 29, 2006 online edition of the Journal Molecular Human Reproduction, Herr and his U.Va. research team showed that the SPANX proteins play a role in the formation of the nuclear envelope of the developing human spermatid. The paper can be found online at this link: