In a study published in Science Advances, Mayo Clinic researchers found a new immunotherapy target called a cryptic antigen that may be key in helping the immune system fight tumors in ovarian cancer.

Cryptic antigens are part of a protein — known as epitopes — that are usually hidden or inaccessible to the immune system and may be present in tumor cells.

“These findings underscore the need to look at alternate sources of target antigens for ovarian cancer,” says Marion R. Curtis, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic senior associate consultant in immunology and senior author of the study.