Melanoma-associated antigen 1 peptide presented on HLA-A*02:01 (MAGE-A1/HLA-A*02:01)

The MAGE-A1 peptide presented on HLA-A*02:01 is a tumor-specific antigen complex formed by the binding of a 9-amino acid epitope (KVLEYVIKV) derived from the Melanoma-associated antigen 1 (MAGE-A1) protein to the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) allele A*02:01 [3, 5, 8]. MAGE-A1 is a member of the cancer-testis antigen (CTA) family, which is typically expressed only in male germ cells and ectopically in various malignancies, including melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and lung cancer [1, 7, 11]. Because germ cells do not express HLA molecules, the MAGE-A1/HLA-A*02:01 complex is virtually absent from healthy tissues, making it an ideal target for precision immunotherapy with a low risk of on-target, off-tumor toxicity [6, 11]. Therapeutic strategies targeting this complex primarily involve T-cell receptor-engineered T-cell (TCR-T) therapies, such as IMA202 and TK-8001, which utilize high-affinity TCRs to redirect the patient's immune system to recognize and eliminate MAGE-A1-positive tumor cells [2, 4, 7]. Clinical trials have demonstrated that targeting this complex is feasible and generally safe, with manageable side effects like cytokine release syndrome and transient cytopenias [7, 10, 16].

Other names

MAGE-A1:278-286/HLA-A*02:01KVLEYVIKV/HLA-A*02:01MAGE-A1 peptide-MHC complexHLA-A*02:01/MAGE-A1 complexMAGE-A1/HLA-A2 complex

Adoptive T-cell therapy using engineered T-cell receptors (TCR-T) to recognize the MAGE-A1 peptide-MHC complex and induce tumor cell lysis [2, 7, 9].