Autoimmune Depigmentation Following Sensitization to Melanoma Antigens

Generating an antitumor immune response can be thought of as eliciting an immune response to cells derived from self-tissue. As such, tumor immunity may result in autoimmunity. Melanoma patients undergoing immunotherapy often develop a form of autoimmune depigmentation referred to as vitiligo, in which T cells with antigenic specificity for pigmentation antigens destroy normal melanocytes. The models described in this chapter can be used to study immunity to melanoma antigens. These models employ a well-characterized pigmentation antigen relevant to melanoma and a common transplantable murine melanoma cell line. As more sophisticated approaches to cancer therapy are developed, models such as these may be key in understanding how immunity to self-antigens can be manipulated to elicit tumor immunity.