Cancer Mucosa Antigens as a Novel Immunotherapeutic Class of Tumor‐associated Antigen

Colorectal cancer is a leading cause of cancer‐related mortality worldwide. Surgery and chemoradiation exhibit incomplete efficacy and, ultimately, 50% of patients die of metastatic disease. In the context of that unmet clinical need, immunotherapeutic approaches have enjoyed limited success, partly because of a paucity of suitable antigen targets. However, exploitation of immune compartmentalization, employing antigens with expression restricted to normal intestinal mucosa and derivative colorectal tumors—cancer mucosa antigens (CMAs)—may represent a previously unrecognized class of immune targets supporting efficacious antitumor immunotherapy. Guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) is an intestine/colorectal cancer‐restricted protein ideally suited as the first CMA for clinical evaluation. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2007) 82, 734–739. doi:10.1038/sj.clpt.6100369; published online 26 September 2007