Involvement of HLA class I molecules in the immune escape of urologic tumors

Current Advance of Immune Evasion Mechanisms and Emerging Immunotherapies in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma is a highly heterogeneous cancer group, and the complex microenvironment of the tumor provides appropriate immune evasion opportunities. The molecular mechanism of immune escape in renal cell carcinoma is currently a hot issue, focusing primarily on the major complex of histocompatibility, immunosuppressive cells, their secreted immunosuppressive cytokines, and apoptosis molecule signal transduction. Immunotherapy is the best treatment option for patients with metastatic or advanced renal cell carcinoma and combination immunotherapy based on a variety of principles has shown promising prospects. Comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the molecular mechanism of immune escape in renal cell carcinoma is of vital importance for the clinical implementation of effective therapies. The goal of this review is to address research into the mechanisms of immune escape in renal cell carcinoma and the use of the latest immunotherapy. In addition, we are all looking forward to the latest frontiers of experimental combination immunotherapy.

The role of HLA in Balkan endemic nephropathy

Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN), a progressive chronic tubulointerstitial disease, occurs in the endemic focus of Croatia in a population of about 10,000 inhabitants. One of its most peculiar characteristics is a strong association with upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). Despite a high number of studies, currently there are insufficient data about the association of BEN and HLA genes. The aim of this study was to investigate the polymorphism of HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 alleles and haplotypes among BEN patients and to determine whether an association between HLA and BEN exists. In this study, we investigated HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 alleles and haplotypes in a population of patients with BEN (N = 111) and matched healthy controls (N = 190). All individuals were tested by PCR-SSO and PCR-SSP methods to assess the possible contribution of HLA alleles and haplotypes to the development of/protection from BEN. Our results showed a positive association between the presence of HLA-B*35:02 and DRB1*04:02 alleles and BEN (P = 0.0179 and P = 0.0151, respectively) in contrast to the protective effect of HLA-A*01:01, B*27:05 and B*57:01 alleles (P = 0.0111, P = 0.0330 and P = 0.0318, respectively). Moreover, when BEN patients' HLA haplotypes were compared to controls, two haplotypes were associated with BEN susceptibility among Croatians (HLA-A*02:01~B*08:01~DRB1*03:01 and HLA-A*02:01~B*27:02~DRB1*16:01, P = 0.0064 and P = 0.0023, respectively), while haplotypes HLA-A*02:01~B*27:05~DRB1*01:01 and HLA-A*02:01~B*38:01~DRB1*13:01 each showed a possible protective effect (P = 0.0495). Our results point toward genetic susceptibility to BEN and observed differences in both susceptible/protective HLA profiles indicate the necessity of further studies in order to elucidate the pathogenesis of this disease.

Secretome profiling of PC3/nKR cells, a novel highly migrating prostate cancer subline derived from PC3 cells

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer among men worldwide. Most PCa cases are not fatal; however, the outlook is poor when PCa spreads to another organ. Bone is the target organ in about 80% of patients who experience metastasis from a primary PCa tumor. In the present study, we characterized the secretome of PC3/nKR cells, which are a new subline of PC3 cells that were originally isolated from nude mice that were implanted with PC3 cells without anti-natural killer (NK) cell treatment. Wound healing and Transwell assays revealed that PC3/nKR cells had increased migratory and invasive activities in addition to a higher resistance to NK cells-induced cytotoxicity as compared to PC3 cells. We quantitatively profiled the secreted proteins of PC3/nKR and PC3 cells by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis coupled with 2-plex tandem mass tag labeling. In total, 598 secretory proteins were identified, and 561 proteins were quantified, among which 45 proteins were secreted more and 40 proteins were secreted less by PC3/nKR cells than by PC3 cells. For validation, the adapter molecule crk, serpin B3, and cystatin-M were analyzed by western blotting. PC3/nKR cells showed the selective secretion of NKG2D ligand 2, HLA-A, and IL-6, which may contribute to their NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity resistance, and had a high secretion of crk protein, which may contribute to their high migration and invasion properties. Based on our secretome analysis, we propose that PC3/nKR cells represent a new cell system for studying the metastasis and progression of PCa.