1
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Lu X, Deng S, Xu J, Green BL, Zhang H, Cui G, Zhou Y, Zhang Y, Xu H, Zhang F, Mao R, Zhong S, Cramer T, Evert M, Calvisi DF, He Y, Liu C, Chen X. Combination of AFP vaccine and immune checkpoint inhibitors slows hepatocellular carcinoma progression in preclinical models. J Clin Invest 2023; 133:e163291. [PMID: 37040183 PMCID: PMC10231990 DOI: 10.1172/jci163291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Many patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) do not respond to the first-line immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment. Immunization with effective cancer vaccines is an attractive alternative approach to immunotherapy. However, its efficacy remains insufficiently evaluated in preclinical studies. Here, we investigated HCC-associated self/tumor antigen, α-fetoprotein-based (AFP-based) vaccine immunization for treating AFP (+) HCC mouse models. We found that AFP immunization effectively induced AFP-specific CD8+ T cells in vivo. However, these CD8+ T cells expressed exhaustion markers, including PD1, LAG3, and Tim3. Furthermore, the AFP vaccine effectively prevented c-MYC/Mcl1 HCC initiation when administered before tumor formation, while it was ineffective against full-blown c-MYC/Mcl1 tumors. Similarly, anti-PD1 and anti-PD-L1 monotherapy showed no efficacy in this murine HCC model. In striking contrast, AFP immunization combined with anti-PD-L1 treatment triggered significant inhibition of HCC progression in most liver tumor nodules, while in combination with anti-PD1, it induced slower tumor progression. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that HCC-intrinsic PD-L1 expression was the primary target of anti-PD-L1 in this combination therapy. Notably, the combination therapy had a similar therapeutic effect in the cMet/β-catenin mouse HCC model. These findings suggest that combining the AFP vaccine and immune checkpoint inhibitors may be effective for AFP (+) HCC treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinjun Lu
- Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Shanshan Deng
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Jiejie Xu
- Department of Hearing and Speech Science, Guangzhou Xinhua University, Guangzhou, China
| | | | - Honghua Zhang
- Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Guofei Cui
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Yi Zhou
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
| | - Yi Zhang
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
- Key Laboratory of Biorheological Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
| | - Hongwei Xu
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
- Department of Liver Surgery, Center of Liver Transplantation, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Fapeng Zhang
- Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Rui Mao
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA
| | - Sheng Zhong
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Thorsten Cramer
- Department of General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery, RWTH University Hospital, Aachen, Germany
- Department of Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Matthias Evert
- Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Diego F. Calvisi
- Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Yukai He
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, USA
| | - Chao Liu
- Department of Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xin Chen
- Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
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2
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Gigoux M, Holmström MO, Zappasodi R, Park JJ, Pourpe S, Bozkus CC, Mangarin LMB, Redmond D, Verma S, Schad S, George MM, Venkatesh D, Ghosh A, Hoyos D, Molvi Z, Kamaz B, Marneth AE, Duke W, Leventhal MJ, Jan M, Ho VT, Hobbs GS, Knudsen TA, Skov V, Kjær L, Larsen TS, Hansen DL, Lindsley RC, Hasselbalch H, Grauslund JH, Lisle TL, Met Ö, Wilkinson P, Greenbaum B, Sepulveda MA, Chan T, Rampal R, Andersen MH, Abdel-Wahab O, Bhardwaj N, Wolchok JD, Mullally A, Merghoub T. Calreticulin mutant myeloproliferative neoplasms induce MHC-I skewing, which can be overcome by an optimized peptide cancer vaccine. Sci Transl Med 2022; 14:eaba4380. [PMID: 35704596 PMCID: PMC11182673 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aba4380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
The majority of JAK2V617F-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) have disease-initiating frameshift mutations in calreticulin (CALR), resulting in a common carboxyl-terminal mutant fragment (CALRMUT), representing an attractive source of neoantigens for cancer vaccines. However, studies have shown that CALRMUT-specific T cells are rare in patients with CALRMUT MPN for unknown reasons. We examined class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I) allele frequencies in patients with CALRMUT MPN from two independent cohorts. We observed that MHC-I alleles that present CALRMUT neoepitopes with high affinity are underrepresented in patients with CALRMUT MPN. We speculated that this was due to an increased chance of immune-mediated tumor rejection by individuals expressing one of these MHC-I alleles such that the disease never clinically manifested. As a consequence of this MHC-I allele restriction, we reasoned that patients with CALRMUT MPN would not efficiently respond to a CALRMUT fragment cancer vaccine but would when immunized with a modified CALRMUT heteroclitic peptide vaccine approach. We found that heteroclitic CALRMUT peptides specifically designed for the MHC-I alleles of patients with CALRMUT MPN efficiently elicited a CALRMUT cross-reactive CD8+ T cell response in human peripheral blood samples but not to the matched weakly immunogenic CALRMUT native peptides. We corroborated this effect in vivo in mice and observed that C57BL/6J mice can mount a CD8+ T cell response to the CALRMUT fragment upon immunization with a CALRMUT heteroclitic, but not native, peptide. Together, our data emphasize the therapeutic potential of heteroclitic peptide-based cancer vaccines in patients with CALRMUT MPN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Gigoux
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Morten O. Holmström
- Department of Oncology, National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
| | - Roberta Zappasodi
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10021, USA
| | - Joseph J. Park
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Stephane Pourpe
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | | | - Levi M. B. Mangarin
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - David Redmond
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Division of Regenerative Medicine, Ansary Stem Cell Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Svena Verma
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Sara Schad
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Mariam M. George
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Divya Venkatesh
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Arnab Ghosh
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Adult Bone Marrow Transplantation Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - David Hoyos
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Zaki Molvi
- Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Baransel Kamaz
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Anna E. Marneth
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - William Duke
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Max Jan
- Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Vincent T. Ho
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Gabriela S. Hobbs
- Department of Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Trine Alma Knudsen
- Department of Hematology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde 4000, Denmark
| | - Vibe Skov
- Department of Hematology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde 4000, Denmark
| | - Lasse Kjær
- Department of Hematology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde 4000, Denmark
| | | | - Dennis Lund Hansen
- Department of Hematology, Odense University Hospital, Odense 5000, Denmark
| | - R. Coleman Lindsley
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Hans Hasselbalch
- Department of Hematology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde 4000, Denmark
| | - Jacob H. Grauslund
- Department of Oncology, National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
| | - Thomas L. Lisle
- Department of Oncology, National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
| | - Özcan Met
- Department of Oncology, National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
| | - Patrick Wilkinson
- Janssen Oncology Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research and Development, LLC, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Spring House, PA 19002, USA
| | - Benjamin Greenbaum
- Computational Oncology, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medicine, Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Manuel A. Sepulveda
- Janssen Oncology Therapeutic Area, Janssen Research and Development, LLC, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Spring House, PA 19002, USA
| | - Timothy Chan
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Immunogenomics and Precision Oncology Platform, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Raajit Rampal
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Leukemia Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Mads H. Andersen
- Department of Oncology, National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Herlev Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev 2730, Denmark
| | - Omar Abdel-Wahab
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Leukemia Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Nina Bhardwaj
- Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Jedd D. Wolchok
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Ann Mullally
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Taha Merghoub
- Ludwig Collaborative and Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and Immuno-Oncology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY 10065, USA
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3
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Dai Z, Huisman BD, Zeng H, Carter B, Jain S, Birnbaum ME, Gifford DK. Machine learning optimization of peptides for presentation by class II MHCs. Bioinformatics 2021; 37:3160-3167. [PMID: 33705522 PMCID: PMC8504626 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btab131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
T cells play a critical role in cellular immune responses to pathogens and cancer and can be activated and expanded by MHC-presented antigens contained in peptide vaccines. We present a machine learning method to optimize the presentation of peptides by class II MHCs by modifying their anchor residues. Our method first learns a model of peptide affinity for a class II MHC using an ensemble of deep residual networks, and then uses the model to propose anchor residue changes to improve peptide affinity. We use a high throughput yeast display assay to show that anchor residue optimization improves peptide binding. Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Dai
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Haoyang Zeng
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Brandon Carter
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Siddhartha Jain
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - David K Gifford
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Biological Engineering, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
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4
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Cavalluzzo B, Ragone C, Mauriello A, Petrizzo A, Manolio C, Caporale A, Vitagliano L, Ruvo M, Buonaguro L, Tagliamonte M. Identification and characterization of heteroclitic peptides in TCR-binding positions with improved HLA-binding efficacy. J Transl Med 2021; 19:89. [PMID: 33637105 PMCID: PMC7913412 DOI: 10.1186/s12967-021-02757-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The antigenicity as well as the immunogenicity of tumor associated antigens (TAAs) may need to be potentiated in order to break the immunological tolerance. To this aim, heteroclitic peptides were designed introducing specific substitutions in the residue at position 4 (p4) binding to TCR. The effect of such modifications also on the affinity to the major histocompatibility class I (MHC-I) molecule was assessed. The Trp2 antigen, specific for the mouse melanoma B16F10 cells, as well as the HPV-E7 antigen, specific for the TC1 tumor cell lines, were used as models. Affinity of such heteroclitic peptides to HLA was predicted by bioinformatics tools and the most promising ones were validated by structural conformational and HLA binding analyses. Overall, we demonstrated that TAAs modified at the TCR-binding p4 residue are predicted to have higher affinity to MHC-I molecules. Experimental evaluation confirms the stronger binding, suggesting that this strategy may be very effective for designing new vaccines with improved antigenic efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatrice Cavalluzzo
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Concetta Ragone
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Angela Mauriello
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Annacarmen Petrizzo
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Carmen Manolio
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Andrea Caporale
- Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, CNR, Naples, Italy.,Istituto Di Cristallografia-CNR, c/o area Science Park S.S. 14 Km 163.5 Basovizza, 34149, Trieste, Italy
| | | | - Menotti Ruvo
- Institute of Biostructures and Bioimaging, CNR, Naples, Italy
| | - Luigi Buonaguro
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy
| | - Maria Tagliamonte
- Innovative Immunological Models Lab, Istituto Nazionale Tumori "Fond. G. Pascale", Via Mariano Semmola, 1, 80131, Naples, Italy.
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5
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Liu YF, Lin CY, Hong HM. In silico Design, Synthesis and Potency of an Epitope-based Vaccine Against Foot-and-mouth Disease Virus. INT J PHARMACOL 2017. [DOI: 10.3923/ijp.2017.122.133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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6
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He Y, Hong Y, Mizejewski GJ. Engineering α-fetoprotein-based gene vaccines to prevent and treat hepatocellular carcinoma: review and future prospects. Immunotherapy 2015; 6:725-36. [PMID: 25041030 DOI: 10.2217/imt.14.46] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Activation of a patient's immune system offers an attractive approach to prevent and treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the antitumor efficacy of current HCC vaccines was weak owing to insufficient immune activation of targeting self/tumor antigens. We recently found that epitope-optimized α-fetoprotein effectively activated CD8 T cells and generated potent antitumor effects in the carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC mouse model. We predict that the same antigen engineering approach of epitope-optimization will enable us to develop effective human vaccines to prevent HCC recurrence after liver resection. The engineered human HCC vaccines may also allow us to identify high-affinity T-cell receptors and antibodies that can be used to reprogram T cells to treat HCC tumors via adoptive transfer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yukai He
- Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Cancer Immunology, Inflammation & Tolerance Program, Augusta, GA 30907, USA
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7
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Dyson J. T-cell receptors: tugging on the anchor for a tighter hold on the tumor-associated peptide. Eur J Immunol 2015; 45:380-2. [PMID: 25581444 DOI: 10.1002/eji.201445385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2015] [Revised: 01/01/2015] [Accepted: 01/07/2015] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Although it has been shown that human tumor-associated, HLA anchor residue modified "heteroclitic" peptides may induce stronger immune responses than wild-type peptides in cancer vaccine trials, it has also been shown that some T cells primed with these heteroclitic peptides subsequently fail to recognize the natural, tumor-expressed peptide efficiently. This may provide a molecular reason for why clinical trials of these peptides have been thus far unsuccessful. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Madura et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2015. 45: 584-591] highlight a novel twist on T-cell receptor (TCR) recognition of HLA-peptide complexes. Tumor-associated peptides often lack canonical anchor residues, which can be substituted for the optimal residue to improve their antigenicity. T-cell cross-reactivity between the natural and modified (heteroclitic) peptides is essential for this approach to work and depends on whether the anchor residue substitution influences peptide conformation. The Melan-A/MART-126-35 peptide epitope is an example where T cells can make this distinction, with the natural peptide stimulating higher affinity CD8(+) T cells than the heteroclitic peptide, despite the heteroclitic peptide's more stable association with HLA-A2. The molecular basis for peptide discrimination is identified through the structure of the TCR bound to the natural peptide; TCR engagement of the natural peptide "lifts" its amino-terminus partly away from the HLA peptide binding groove, forming a higher affinity interface with the TCR than is formed with the anchor residue "optimized" heteroclitic peptide, which cannot be "pulled" from the HLA groove.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Dyson
- Section of Molecular Immunology, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
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8
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Madura F, Rizkallah PJ, Holland CJ, Fuller A, Bulek A, Godkin AJ, Schauenburg AJ, Cole DK, Sewell AK. Structural basis for ineffective T-cell responses to MHC anchor residue-improved "heteroclitic" peptides. Eur J Immunol 2015; 45:584-91. [PMID: 25471691 PMCID: PMC4357396 DOI: 10.1002/eji.201445114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2014] [Revised: 10/03/2014] [Accepted: 11/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
MHC anchor residue-modified "heteroclitic" peptides have been used in many cancer vaccine trials and often induce greater immune responses than the wild-type peptide. The best-studied system to date is the decamer MART-1/Melan-A26-35 peptide, EAAGIGILTV, where the natural alanine at position 2 has been modified to leucine to improve human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201 anchoring. The resulting ELAGIGILTV peptide has been used in many studies. We recently showed that T cells primed with the ELAGIGILTV peptide can fail to recognize the natural tumor-expressed peptide efficiently, thereby providing a potential molecular reason for why clinical trials of this peptide have been unsuccessful. Here, we solved the structure of a TCR in complex with HLA-A*0201-EAAGIGILTV peptide and compared it with its heteroclitic counterpart , HLA-A*0201-ELAGIGILTV. The data demonstrate that a suboptimal anchor residue at position 2 enables the TCR to "pull" the peptide away from the MHC binding groove, facilitating extra contacts with both the peptide and MHC surface. These data explain how a TCR can distinguish between two epitopes that differ by only a single MHC anchor residue and demonstrate how weak MHC anchoring can enable an induced-fit interaction with the TCR. Our findings constitute a novel demonstration of the extreme sensitivity of the TCR to minor alterations in peptide conformation.
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MESH Headings
- Alanine/chemistry
- Alanine/genetics
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Amino Acid Substitution
- Crystallography, X-Ray
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/genetics
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/immunology
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/metabolism
- Escherichia coli/genetics
- Escherichia coli/metabolism
- Gene Expression
- HLA-A2 Antigen/chemistry
- HLA-A2 Antigen/genetics
- HLA-A2 Antigen/immunology
- Humans
- Leucine/chemistry
- Leucine/genetics
- MART-1 Antigen/chemistry
- MART-1 Antigen/genetics
- MART-1 Antigen/immunology
- Models, Molecular
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Peptides/chemistry
- Peptides/genetics
- Peptides/immunology
- Protein Binding
- Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/chemistry
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/genetics
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/immunology
- Recombinant Proteins/chemistry
- Recombinant Proteins/genetics
- Recombinant Proteins/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/cytology
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- Florian Madura
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Pierre J Rizkallah
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Christopher J Holland
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Anna Fuller
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Anna Bulek
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Andrew J Godkin
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Andrea J Schauenburg
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - David K Cole
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
| | - Andrew K Sewell
- Division of Infection and Immunity, Cardiff University School of MedicineHeath Park, Cardiff, UK
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9
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Hong Y, Peng Y, Guo ZS, Guevara-Patino J, Pang J, Butterfield LH, Mivechi N, Munn DH, Bartlett DL, He Y. Epitope-optimized alpha-fetoprotein genetic vaccines prevent carcinogen-induced murine autochthonous hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatology 2014; 59:1448-58. [PMID: 24122861 PMCID: PMC4151349 DOI: 10.1002/hep.26893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2013] [Revised: 09/25/2013] [Accepted: 10/06/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
UNLABELLED Immunization with effective cancer vaccines can offer a much needed adjuvant therapy to fill the treatment gap after liver resection to prevent relapse of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, current HCC cancer vaccines are mostly based on native shared-self/tumor antigens that are only able to induce weak immune responses. In this study we investigated whether the HCC-associated self/tumor antigen of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) could be engineered to create an effective vaccine to break immune tolerance and potently activate CD8 T cells to prevent clinically relevant carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC in mice. We found that the approach of computer-guided methodical epitope-optimization created a highly immunogenic AFP and that immunization with lentivector expressing the epitope-optimized AFP, but not wild-type AFP, potently activated CD8 T cells. Critically, the activated CD8 T cells not only cross-recognized short synthetic wild-type AFP peptides, but also recognized and killed tumor cells expressing wild-type AFP protein. Immunization with lentivector expressing optimized AFP, but not native AFP, completely protected mice from tumor challenge and reduced the incidence of carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC. In addition, prime-boost immunization with the optimized AFP significantly increased the frequency of AFP-specific memory CD8 T cells in the liver that were highly effective against emerging HCC tumor cells, further enhancing the tumor prevention of carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC. CONCLUSIONS Epitope-optimization is required to break immune tolerance and potently activate AFP-specific CD8 T cells, generating effective antitumor effect to prevent clinically relevant carcinogen-induced autochthonous HCC in mice. Our study provides a practical roadmap to develop effective human HCC vaccines that may result in an improved outcome compared to the current HCC vaccines based on wild-type AFP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Hong
- Cancer Immunology, Inflammation, and Tolerance Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA
| | - Yibing Peng
- Cancer Immunology, Inflammation, and Tolerance Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA
| | - Z. Sheng Guo
- Department of Surgery and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Jose Guevara-Patino
- Depart of Surgery, Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, Loyola University, Maywood, IL
| | - Junfeng Pang
- Department of Radiology and Molecular Chaperone Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA
| | - Lisa H. Butterfield
- Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Nahid Mivechi
- Department of Radiology and Molecular Chaperone Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA
| | - David H Munn
- Cancer Immunology, Inflammation, and Tolerance Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA,Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA
| | - David L Bartlett
- Department of Surgery and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Yukai He
- Cancer Immunology, Inflammation, and Tolerance Program, Georgia Regents University Cancer Center, Augusta, GA,Department of Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA
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10
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Rodgers JR, Rich RR. Antigens and antigen presentation. Clin Immunol 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-7234-3691-1.00030-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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11
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Zloza A, Lyons GE, Chlewicki LK, Kohlhapp FJ, O'Sullivan JA, Lacek AT, Moore TV, Jagoda MC, Kumar V, Guevara-Patiño JA. Engagement of NK receptor NKG2D, but not 2B4, results in self-reactive CD8+ T cells and autoimmune vitiligo. Autoimmunity 2011; 44:599-606. [PMID: 21913803 DOI: 10.3109/08916934.2011.593599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we demonstrate that engagement of two different natural killer receptors (NKRs) can lead to contrasting effects in the development of self-reactive CD8+T cells and autoimmune vitiligo. Specifically, using a mouse model, we show that CD8+T-cell targeting of a melanocyte antigen, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) in combination with delivery of the NKG2D ligands (Rae-1ϵ or H60), results in strong CD8+T-cell responses against TRP-1 and in the development of autoimmune vitiligo. In contrast, targeting of TRP-1 in combination with delivery of CD48, the natural ligand for the NKR 2B4, leads to reduced formation of TRP-1-reactive CD8+T-cell responses and decreased development of vitiligo. These data indicate that autoimmune vitiligo is limited by insufficient signals, despite plentiful self-reactive T cells in the peripheral immune system. To our knowledge, this is the first experimental evidence supporting the role of NKRs in modulating CD8+T-cell autoimmune vitiligo. This study supports the utilization of NKR signaling as a therapeutic avenue toward prevention of vitiligo and other autoimmune diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Zloza
- Department of Surgery, Committee on Immunology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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12
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Orlandi F, Guevara-Patiño JA, Merghoub T, Wolchok JD, Houghton AN, Gregor PD. Combination of epitope-optimized DNA vaccination and passive infusion of monoclonal antibody against HER2/neu leads to breast tumor regression in mice. Vaccine 2011; 29:3646-54. [PMID: 21435405 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.03.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2010] [Revised: 02/27/2011] [Accepted: 03/05/2011] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
HER2/neu is an oncogene amplified and over-expressed in 20-30% of breast adenocarcinomas. Treatment with the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has shown efficacy in combination with cytotoxic agents, although resistance occurs over time. Novel approaches are needed to further increase antibody efficacy. In this study, we provide evidence in a mouse breast cancer therapeutic tumor model that the combination of active immunization with a modified HER2/neu DNA vaccine and passive infusion of an anti-HER2/neu monoclonal antibody leads to significant regression of established tumors. Our data indicate that combination therapy with a HER2/neu DNA vaccine and trastuzumab may have clinical activity in breast cancer patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Orlandi
- The Swim Across America Laboratory, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, United States
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13
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Bellavance EC, Kohlhapp FJ, Zloza A, O'Sullivan JA, McCracken J, Jagoda MC, Lacek AT, Posner MC, Guevara-Patino JA. Development of tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cell memory precursor effector cells and antimelanoma memory responses are the result of vaccination and TGF-β blockade during the perioperative period of tumor resection. THE JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY 2011; 186:3309-16. [PMID: 21289306 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1002549] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
A main goal of cancer immunology research is the formation of Ag-specific memory T cell immunity capable of activation upon tumor re-encounter. The requirements necessary to overcome the inhibitory signals present in the tumor microenvironment and form such memory T cell responses are unknown. In contrast to previous studies targeting tumors expressing highly immunogenic model Ags, we demonstrate that alleviating tumor-induced suppression along with vaccination against authentic Ags during the perioperative period provides long-lasting protection against a highly suppressive and poorly immunogenic melanoma. In this study, we employed DNA vaccination with an immunologically optimized mouse melanoma-shared Ag, Trp1ee/ng, combined with systemic TGF-β blockade during the perioperative period of primary tumor resection, to confer protection against B16 melanoma, and against JBRH, an independently derived melanoma unrelated to B16. Importantly, we demonstrate that correlative to memory responses, perioperative immunotherapy increases the formation of tumor-infiltrating and tumor-reactive CD8(+) T cells expressing low levels of the transcription factor T-bet, defined as memory precursor effector cells. We show that conditions for an immunologically fertile environment are met when TGF-β blockade and vaccination are applied during the perioperative period of primary tumor resection. These findings address limitations of current CD8(+) T cell immunotherapies against cancer by generating effective CD8(+) T cell memory recall responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily C Bellavance
- Committee on Immunology, Department of Surgery, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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14
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Cole DK, Edwards ESJ, Wynn KK, Clement M, Miles JJ, Ladell K, Ekeruche J, Gostick E, Adams KJ, Skowera A, Peakman M, Wooldridge L, Price DA, Sewell AK. Modification of MHC anchor residues generates heteroclitic peptides that alter TCR binding and T cell recognition. JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY (BALTIMORE, MD. : 1950) 2010; 185:2600-10. [PMID: 20639478 PMCID: PMC3024538 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1000629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Improving T cell Ags by altering MHC anchor residues is a common strategy used to enhance peptide vaccines, but there has been little assessment of how such modifications affect TCR binding and T cell recognition. In this study, we use surface plasmon resonance and peptide-MHC tetramer binding at the cell surface to demonstrate that changes in primary peptide anchor residues can substantially and unpredictably alter TCR binding. We also demonstrate that the ability of TCRs to differentiate between natural and anchor-modified heteroclitic peptides distinguishes T cells that exhibit a strong preference for either type of Ag. Furthermore, we show that anchor-modified heteroclitic peptides prime T cells with different TCRs compared with those primed with natural Ag. Thus, vaccination with heteroclitic peptides may elicit T cells that exhibit suboptimal recognition of the intended natural Ag and, consequently, impaired functional attributes in vivo. Heteroclitic peptide-based immune interventions therefore require careful evaluation to ensure efficacy in the clinic.
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MESH Headings
- Amino Acid Sequence
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/immunology
- CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes/metabolism
- Cells, Cultured
- Cytokines/immunology
- Cytokines/metabolism
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/genetics
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/immunology
- Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte/metabolism
- Flow Cytometry
- HLA-A Antigens/genetics
- HLA-A Antigens/immunology
- HLA-A Antigens/metabolism
- HLA-A2 Antigen
- Humans
- Mutation
- Oligopeptides/genetics
- Oligopeptides/immunology
- Oligopeptides/metabolism
- Peptide Library
- Protein Binding/immunology
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/immunology
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/metabolism
- Surface Plasmon Resonance
- T-Lymphocytes/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes/metabolism
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- David K Cole
- Cardiff University School of Medicine, Heath Park, Cardiff, United Kingdom
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15
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Particle-mediated DNA vaccines against seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses elicit strong mucosal antibody and T cell responses in the lung. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.1016/j.provac.2010.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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16
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Li F, Yang D, Wang Y, Liu B, Deng Y, Wang L, Shang X, Tong W, Ni B, Wu Y. Identification and modification of an HLA-A*0201-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope from Ran antigen. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2009; 58:2039-49. [PMID: 19430788 PMCID: PMC11030261 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-009-0712-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2009] [Accepted: 04/14/2009] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Ran is considered to be a promising target for tumor-specific immunotherapy because its protein is exclusively expressed in tumor tissues, though its mRNA can be expressed in most normal tissues. In our study, we obtained four candidate wild-type epitopes designated Ran1, Ran2, Ran3, and Ran4, derived from the Ran antigen with the highest predicted affinity with MHC-I, indicated by affinity prediction plots and molecular dynamics simulation. However, in vitro affinity assays of these epitopes showed only a moderate affinity with MHC-I. Thus, we designed altered peptide ligands (APLs) derived from Ran wild-type epitopes with preferred primary and auxiliary HLA-A*0201 molecule anchor residue replacement. Of the eight tested peptides, the 1Y analog had the strongest binding-affinity and lowest-dissociation rate to HLA-A*0201. Additionally, we investigated the CTLs activities induced by Ran wild-type peptides and the APLs in human PBMCs and in HLA-A*0201/K(b) transgenic mice. Ran1 1Y was superior to other APLs and wild-type peptides in eliciting epitope-specific CTL immune responses both in vitro and in vivo. In summary, a wild-type epitope of the tumor-specific antigen Ran, expressed broadly in many tumors, was identified and designated Ran1. An APL of Ran1, Ran1 1Y, was further designed and verified in vitro and in vivo and found to elicit a stronger Ran-specific CTL response, indicating a potential anti-tumor application in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fan Li
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
- Department of General Surgery, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400042 Chongqing, China
| | - Di Yang
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
| | - Yiqin Wang
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
- Department of Nephrology, Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400037 Chongqing, China
| | - Baohua Liu
- Department of General Surgery, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400042 Chongqing, China
| | - Yijing Deng
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
- Department of Geriatric Gastroenterology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, 28 FuXing Street, 100853 Beijing, China
| | - Li Wang
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
| | - Xiaoyun Shang
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
| | - Weidong Tong
- Department of General Surgery, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, 400042 Chongqing, China
| | - Bing Ni
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
| | - Yuzhang Wu
- Department of Immunology, Institute of Immunology, Third Military Medical University, 400038 Chongqing, China
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17
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Yager EJ, Dean HJ, Fuller DH. Prospects for developing an effective particle-mediated DNA vaccine against influenza. Expert Rev Vaccines 2009; 8:1205-20. [PMID: 19722894 DOI: 10.1586/erv.09.82] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Vaccine strategies capable of conferring broad protection against both seasonal and pandemic strains of influenza are urgently needed. DNA vaccines are an attractive choice owing to their capacity to induce robust humoral and cellular immune responses at low doses and because they can be developed and manufactured rapidly to more effectively meet the threat of an influenza epidemic or pandemic. Particle-mediated epidermal delivery (PMED), or the gene gun, is a DNA vaccine delivery technology shown to induce protective levels of antibody and T-cell responses in animals and humans against a wide variety of diseases, including influenza. This review focuses on current advances toward the development of an effective PMED DNA vaccine against influenza, including strategies to enhance vaccine immunogenicity, the potential for PMED-based DNA vaccines to improve protection in the vulnerable elderly population, and the prospects for a vaccine capable of providing cross-protection against both seasonal and pandemic strains of influenza.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric J Yager
- Center for Immunology & Microbial Disease, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA.
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18
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Toussaint NC, Kohlbacher O. Towards in silico design of epitope-based vaccines. Expert Opin Drug Discov 2009; 4:1047-60. [PMID: 23480396 DOI: 10.1517/17460440903242283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Epitope-based vaccines (EVs) make use of immunogenic peptides (epitopes) to trigger an immune response. Due to their manifold advantages, EVs have recently been attracting growing interest. The success of an EV is determined by the choice of epitopes used as a basis. However, the experimental discovery of candidate epitopes is expensive in terms of time and money. Furthermore, for the final choice of epitopes various immunological requirements have to be considered. METHODS Numerous in silico approaches exist that can guide the design of EVs. In particular, computational methods for MHC binding prediction have already become standard tools in immunology. Apart from binding prediction and prediction of antigen processing, methods for epitope design and selection have been suggested. We review these in silico approaches for epitope discovery and selection along with their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, we discuss some of the obvious problems in the design of EVs. CONCLUSION State-of-the-art in silico approaches to MHC binding prediction yield high accuracies. However, a more thorough understanding of the underlying biological processes and significant amounts of experimental data will be required for the validation and improvement of in silico approaches to the remaining aspects of EV design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora C Toussaint
- Eberhard Karls University, Center for Bioinformatics Tübingen, Division for Simulation of Biological Systems, 72076 Tübingen, Germany +49 7071 2970458 ; +49 7071 295152 ;
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19
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Iero M, Filipazzi P, Castelli C, Belli F, Valdagni R, Parmiani G, Patuzzo R, Santinami M, Rivoltini L. Modified peptides in anti-cancer vaccines: are we eventually improving anti-tumour immunity? Cancer Immunol Immunother 2009; 58:1159-67. [PMID: 18998128 PMCID: PMC11030573 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-008-0610-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2008] [Accepted: 10/03/2008] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of tumour antigens recognized by T cells and the features of immune responses directed against them has paved the way to a multitude of clinical studies aimed at boosting anti-tumour T cell immunity as a therapeutic tool for cancer patients. One of the different strategies explored to ameliorate the immunogenicity of tumour antigens in vaccine protocols is represented by the use of optimized peptides or altered peptide ligands, whose amino acid sequence has been modified for improving HLA binding or TCR interaction with respect to native epitopes. However, despite the promising results achieved with preclinical studies, the clinical efficacy of this approach has not yet met the expectations. Although multiple reasons could explain the relative failure of altered peptide ligands as more effective cancer vaccines, the possibility that T cells primed by modified tumour peptides might may be unable to effectively cross-recognize tumour cells has not been sufficiently addressed. Indeed, the introduction of conservative amino acid substitutions may still produce diverse and unpredictable changes in the HLA/peptide interface, with consequent modifications of the TCR repertoire that can interact with the complex. This could lead to the expansion of a broad array of T cells whose TCRs may not necessarily react with equivalent affinity with the original antigenic epitope. Considering the results presently achieved with this vaccine approach, and the emerging availability of alternative strategies for boosting anti-tumour immunity, the use of modified tumour peptides could be reconsidered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuela Iero
- Unit of Immunotherapy of Human Tumours, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Paola Filipazzi
- Unit of Immunotherapy of Human Tumours, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Castelli
- Unit of Immunotherapy of Human Tumours, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy
| | - Filiberto Belli
- Unit of Colo-rectal Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
| | - Riccardo Valdagni
- Unit of Prostate Cancer Program, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
| | - Giorgio Parmiani
- Unit of Immunobiotherapy of Solid Tumours, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Roberto Patuzzo
- Unit of Melanoma and Sarcoma Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
| | - Mario Santinami
- Unit of Melanoma and Sarcoma Surgery, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy
| | - Licia Rivoltini
- Unit of Immunotherapy of Human Tumours, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Via Venezian 1, 20133 Milan, Italy
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20
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A modified epitope identified for generation and monitoring of PSA-specific T cells in patients on early phases of PSA-based immunotherapeutic protocols. Vaccine 2009; 27:1557-65. [PMID: 19171173 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2009.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2008] [Revised: 12/16/2008] [Accepted: 01/07/2009] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Efficacy of vaccination in cancer patients on immunotherapeutic protocols can be difficult to evaluate. The aim of this study was therefore to identify a single natural or modified epitope in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) with the ability to generate high levels of PSA-specific T cells to facilitate monitoring in patients after vaccination against prostate cancer. To the best of our knowledge, this study describes for the first time the peptide specificity of T cells stimulated by endogenously processed PSA antigen. The peptide specificity of HLA-A*0201-restricted CD8(+) T cells against human and rhesus PSA was investigated both in vivo after DNA vaccination in HLA-A*0201-transgenic mice and in vitro after repetitive stimulation of human T cells with DNA-transfected human dendritic cells (DCs). One of seven native PSA peptides, psa53-61, was able to activate high levels of PSA-specific CD8(+) T cells in HLA-A*0201-transgenic mice after PSA DNA vaccination. Psa53-61 was also the only peptide that induced human T cells to produce IFNgamma after stimulation with PSA transfected DCs, however not in all donors. Therefore, plasmids encoding modified epitopes in predicted HLA-A*0201 sequences were constructed. One of these modified PSA plasmids consistently induced IFNgamma producing CD8(+) T cells to the corresponding modified peptide as well as to the corresponding native peptide, in all murine and human T cell cultures. This study demonstrates a novel concept of introducing a modified epitope within a self-tumor antigen, with the purpose of eliciting a reliable T cell response from the non-tolerized immune repertoire, to facilitate monitoring of vaccine efficacy in cancer patients on immunotherapeutic protocols. The purpose of such a modified epitope is thus not to induce therapeutically relevant T cells but rather to, in case of weak or divergent T cell responses to self antigens/peptides, help answer questions about efficacy of vaccine delivery and about the possibility to induce immune responses in the selected and often immunosuppressed cancer patients.
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21
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Keratinocyte growth factor enhances DNA plasmid tumor vaccine responses after murine allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Blood 2008; 113:1574-80. [PMID: 19011222 DOI: 10.1182/blood-2008-05-155697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), which is given exogenously to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo-BMT) recipients, supports thymic epithelial cells and increases thymic output of naive T cells. Here, we demonstrate that this improved T-cell reconstitution leads to enhanced responses to DNA plasmid tumor vaccination. Tumor-bearing mice treated with KGF and DNA vaccination have improved long-term survival and decreased tumor burden after allo-BMT. When assayed before vaccination, KGF-treated allo-BMT recipients have increased numbers of peripheral T cells, including CD8(+) T cells with vaccine-recognition potential. In response to vaccination, KGF-treated allo-BMT recipients, compared with control subjects, generate increased numbers of tumor-specific CD8(+) cells, as well as increased numbers of CD8(+) cells producing interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). We also found unanticipated benefits to antitumor immunity with the administration of KGF. KGF-treated allo-BMT recipients have an improved ratio of T effector cells to regulatory T cells, a larger fraction of effector cells that display a central memory phenotype, and effector cells that are derived from a broader T-cell-receptor repertoire. In conclusion, our data suggest that KGF can function as a potent vaccine adjuvant after allo-BMT through its effects on posttransplantation T-cell reconstitution.
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22
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Wolchok JD, Yuan J, Houghton AN, Gallardo HF, Rasalan TS, Wang J, Zhang Y, Ranganathan R, Chapman PB, Krown SE, Livingston PO, Heywood M, Riviere I, Panageas KS, Terzulli SL, Perales MA. Safety and immunogenicity of tyrosinase DNA vaccines in patients with melanoma. Mol Ther 2007; 15:2044-50. [PMID: 17726460 DOI: 10.1038/sj.mt.6300290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Immunity to self antigens on cancer is constrained by tolerance/ignorance. DNA vaccines encoding xenogeneic differentiation antigens, such as tyrosinase (TYR), mediate tumor protection and regression in implantable mouse models, and dogs with spontaneous melanoma. We conducted a trial of mouse and human TYR DNA vaccines in stage III/IV melanoma patients. Eighteen human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201(+) melanoma patients were randomized as follows: one group received three mouse TYR DNA injections followed by three human TYR DNA injections; the other group received the same vaccines in opposite sequence. The study was conducted at three dose levels: 100, 500, and 1,500 microg DNA/injection, administered intramuscularly (IM) every 3 weeks. Most toxicities were grade 1 injection site reactions. Seven patients developed CD8(+) T-cell responses, defined by a >3 SD increase in baseline reactivity to TYR peptide in tetramer or intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) assays. There was found to be no relationship between dose, assigned schedule, and T-cell response. At a median of 42 months follow-up, median survival has not been reached. Mouse and human TYR DNA vaccines were found safe and induced CD8(+) T-cell responses in 7 of 18 patients. T cells recognizing a native TYR peptide had a phenotype consistent with that of effector memory cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jedd D Wolchok
- Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA.
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