The team led by Darjus Tschaharganeh, a scientist at the Institute of Pathology of Heidelberg University Hospital and the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine, as well as a former junior research group leader at the German Cancer Research Center, took an unconventional approach in their search for target structures: They focused on genes that are overexpressed in tumor cells but do not necessarily act as typical cancer drivers themselves. What mattered far more was whether these genes encode proteins that are present in large quantities on the surface of cancer cells and are thus easily accessible for cellular therapy.
While analyzing genomic data from various types of cancer, the team came across the MPZL1 gene. It is located in a chromosomal region that is often amplified in various solid tumors. Human tumor cells therefore often express large amounts of the MPZL1 protein on their cell surfaces, whereas healthy tissue expresses significantly less. The team discovered this by analyzing 2,200 tumor samples from various types of cancer as well as samples of healthy tissue.