Background:

MART-1 (26-35) is amino acid residue 26 to 35 of MART-1 protein.

MART-1 (Melan-A) gene is 18 kb long and comprises five exons. It is expressed in most melanoma tumor samples, and among normal cells, only in melanocytes[1]. In cancer immunotherapy, epitopes and variants derived from the MART-1/Melan-A protein are widely used as clinical vaccines. The epitopes spanning amino acid residues 26-35 and 27-35 from the MART-1/Melan-A protein, highly expressed in melanoma cells, provide a prime example of T cell recognition of multiple peptides and the use of peptide variants designed to elicit altered immunological responses[2].

[1]. Coulie PG, et al. A new gene coding for a differentiation antigen recognized by autologous cytolytic T lymphocytes on HLA-A2 melanomas. J Exp Med. 1994 Jul 1;180(1):35-42. [2]. Borbulevych OY, et al. Structures of MART-126/27-35 Peptide/HLA-A2 complexes reveal a remarkable disconnect between antigen structural homology and T cell recognition. J Mol Biol. 2007 Oct 5;372(5):1123-36.