Human leukocyte antigen A*02:01–human telomerase reverse transcriptase peptide complex (HLA-A*02:01–hTERT)

The HLA-A*02:01–human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) peptide complex is a major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecule (HLA-A*02:01) presenting an epitope derived from the hTERT protein (Source: NIH). hTERT is the catalytic subunit of telomerase, an enzyme responsible for maintaining telomere length, which is reactivated in approximately 85-90% of all human cancers to enable replicative immortality (Source: MDPI). Because hTERT is minimally expressed in most normal adult somatic tissues, the HLA-A*02:01–hTERT complex serves as a highly specific tumor-associated antigen (TAA) for immunotherapy (Source: ResearchGate). Therapeutic strategies targeting this complex include peptide-based vaccines such as Vx-001, T-cell receptor (TCR) gene therapies, and TCR-mimic (TCRm) bispecific T-cell engagers (Source: AACR). These agents aim to stimulate or redirect cytotoxic CD8+ T cells to recognize and eliminate telomerase-positive malignant cells (Source: Frontiers in Immunology). While generally considered safe due to the differential expression levels between tumor and normal cells, potential challenges include the low-affinity nature of some hTERT epitopes and the risk of on-target off-tumor effects on highly proliferative normal cells like hematopoietic stem cells (Source: NIH).

Other names

HLA-A2/hTERT complexhTERT540-548/HLA-A*02:01pHLA-A*02:01/hTERTHLA-A*02:01-restricted hTERT epitopehTERT-derived peptide-MHC complex

Induction of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses and redirection of T cells to recognize and lyse hTERT-presenting tumor cells (Source: NIH, AACR).