Tumor-specific antigen recognized via engineered T-cell receptor (TSA (if specifically referring to "tumor-specific antigen"), TCR-T (for therapy context))

Tumor-specific antigens are proteins or peptides uniquely or preferentially expressed by cancer cells, commonly derived from mutated or aberrantly expressed self-proteins. Engineered T-cell receptor (TCR) therapy, including products such as afamitresgene autoleucel, edits patient-derived T cells to express receptors with high specificity for these tumor antigens bound to an HLA molecule on cancer cells. This enables robust and targeted immune destruction of malignant cells but requires matching tumor antigen presence and patient HLA type. Clinically, therapies target well-characterized antigens such as MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1, but the generic term “tumor-specific antigen” encompasses a diverse family of peptides recognized by different engineered TCRs. These therapies are approved for certain cancers and are under investigation for broader use. Limitations include the precise identification of suitable antigens, risk of toxicity, requirement for HLA compatibility, and variable antigen presentation within tumors.

Other names

Tumor antigenCancer antigenTSATumor-specific antigenTumor-associated antigen (TAA; though technically TAAs are a subset and not exactly tumor-specific)Neoantigen (sometimes used if antigens arise from tumor mutations)

Cellular cytotoxicity via engineered TCR binding to peptide-MHC complex presenting tumor-specific antigens; T-cell activation and targeted tumor cell killing