Coincident expression and distribution of melanotransferrin and transferrin receptor in human brain capillary endothelium

A Novel Strategy for the Discovery of MHC Class II–Restricted Tumor Antigens: Identification of a Melanotransferrin Helper T-Cell Epitope

“…Our expression profiling extended already existing melanotransferrin expression data (41,51,52) and showed that melanotransferrin mRNA is present only in trace amounts in the assessed normal tissues. However, it was strongly overexpressed in tumor tissues (e.g., melanoma) but also certain other cancer types such as lung and colon cancer, supporting our contention that melanotransferrin may qualify as a shared tumor antigen in immunotherapy.…”

Potent cytotoxicity of an auristatin-containing antibody-drug conjugate targeting melanoma cells expressing melanotransferrin/p97

“…Quantitative FACS results from this study were concordant with the calculated number of p97 molecules on the cell surface of melanomas versus normal tissues. We were unable to quantify the level of p97 expression in normal human brain, detected by immunohistochemistry (31), for lack of available cultured human brain endothelial cells. Other normal human microvascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells were analyzed for p97 expression and were found to have lower levels of antigen than most melanoma cell lines (V20,000 molecules per cell).…”

Serum Melanotransferrin, p97 as a Biochemical Marker of Alzheimer's Disease

“…It is known that p97 co-localizes with the transferrin receptor in brain capillary endothelium, which suggests that the soluble p97 protein could cross the blood-brain barrier by interacting with the transferrin receptor (Rothenberger et al 1996). p97 provides a novel route for cellular uptake of iron from Fe-citrate that does not require transferrin (Jefferies et al 1996b).…”