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Papa V, Li Pomi F, Borgia F, Vaccaro M, Pioggia G, Gangemi S. Alarmins in cutaneous malignant melanoma: An updated overview of emerging evidence on their pathogenetic, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic role. J Dermatol 2024; 51:927-938. [PMID: 38775220 DOI: 10.1111/1346-8138.17278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2024] [Revised: 05/04/2024] [Accepted: 05/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
Malignant cutaneous melanoma is the leading cause of death for skin cancer to date, with globally increasing incidence rates. In this epidemiological scenario, international scientific research is exerting efforts to identify new clinical strategies aimed at the prognostic amelioration of the disease. Very promising and groundbreaking in this context is the scientific interest related to alarmins and their pioneering utility in the setting of the pathogenetic understanding, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy for malignant cutaneous melanoma. However, the scientific investigations on this matter should not overlook their still well-presented dual and contradictory role. The aim of our critical analysis is to provide an up-to-date overview of the emerging evidence concerning the dichotomous role of alarmins in the aforementioned clinical settings. Our literature revision was based on the extensive body of both preclinical and clinical findings published on the PubMed database over the past 5 years. In addition to this, we offer a special focus on potentially revolutionary new therapeutic frontiers, which, on the strength of their earliest successes in other clinical areas, could inaugurate a new era of personalized and precision medicine in the field of dermato-oncology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vincenzo Papa
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School and Operative Unit of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Federica Li Pomi
- Department of Precision Medicine in Medical, Surgical and Critical Care (Me.Pre.C.C.), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Francesco Borgia
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Dermatology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Mario Vaccaro
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Section of Dermatology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Giovanni Pioggia
- Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IRIB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Messina, Italy
| | - Sebastiano Gangemi
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School and Operative Unit of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
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Huda TI, Diaz MJ, Gozlan EC, Chobrutskiy A, Chobrutskiy BI, Blanck G. Immunogenomics Parameters for Patient Stratification in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2022; 88:619-629. [PMID: 35662120 DOI: 10.3233/jad-220119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite the fact that only modest adaptive immune system related approaches to treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) are available, an immunogenomics approach to the study of AD has not yet substantially advanced. OBJECTIVE Thus, we sought to better understand adaptive immune receptor chemical features in the AD setting. METHODS We characterized T-cell receptor alpha (TRA) complementarity determining region-3 (CDR3) physicochemical features and identified TRA CDR3 homology groups, represented by TRA recombination reads extracted from 2,665 AD-related, blood- and brain-derived exome files. RESULTS We found that a higher isoelectric value for the brain TRA CDR3s was associated with a higher (clinically worse) Braak stage and that a number of TRA CDR3 chemical homology groups, in particular representing bloodborne TRA CDR3s, were associated with higher or lower Braak stages. Lastly, greater chemical complementarity of both blood- and brain-derived TRA CDR3s and tau, based on a recently described CDR3-candidate antigen chemical complementarity scoring process (https://adaptivematch.com), was associated with higher Braak stages. CONCLUSION Overall, the data reported here raise the questions of (a) whether progression of AD is facilitated by the adaptive immune response to tau; and (b) whether assessment of such an anti-tau immune response could potentially serve as a basis for adaptive immune receptor related, AD risk stratification?
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Affiliation(s)
- Taha I Huda
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Michael J Diaz
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Etienne C Gozlan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Andrea Chobrutskiy
- Department of Pediatrics, Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Boris I Chobrutskiy
- Department of Internal Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University Hospital, Portland, OR, USA
| | - George Blanck
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.,Department of Immunology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
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Yeagley M, Chobrutskiy BI, Gozlan EC, Medikonda N, Patel DN, Falasiri S, Callahan BM, Huda T, Blanck G. Electrostatic Complementarity of T-Cell Receptor-Alpha CDR3 Domains and Mutant Amino Acids Is Associated with Better Survival Rates for Sarcomas. Pediatr Hematol Oncol 2021; 38:251-264. [PMID: 33616477 DOI: 10.1080/08880018.2020.1843576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
While sarcoma immunology has advanced with regard to basic, and even some applied topics, this disease has not been subject to more recent immunogenomics approaches. Thus, we assessed the immune receptor recombinations available from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) sarcoma database via tumor sample exome and RNASeq files. Results indicated that recovery of T-cell receptor-alpha recombination reads (TRA) correlated with a better survival rate, with the expression of T-cell biomarkers, and with tumor sample apoptosis signatures consistent with the longer patient survival times. Furthermore, samples representing TRA complementarity determining region-3 (CDR3) net charge per residue (NCPR) based complementarity with the corresponding sarcoma mutanome had a better survival rate, and more granzyme expression, than samples lacking such complementarity. By specifically using RNASeq-recovered TRA CDR3s and related NCPR assessments, three genes, TP53, ATRX, and RB1, were identified as being key components of the mutanome-based complementarity. Thus, these genes may represent key immune system targets for soft tissue sarcomas. Also, several key results from above were reproduced with a pediatric osteosarcoma dataset, work that led to identification of MUC6 mutations as potentially linked to a strong immune response. In sum, TRA CDR3s are likely to be important prognostic indicators, and possibly a beginning tool for immunotherapy development strategies, for adult and pediatric sarcomas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Yeagley
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Boris I Chobrutskiy
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Etienne C Gozlan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Nikhila Medikonda
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Dhruv N Patel
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Shayan Falasiri
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Blake M Callahan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - Taha Huda
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA
| | - George Blanck
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.,Immunology Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, USA
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Chemical complementarity between immune receptors and cancer mutants, independent of antigen presentation protein binding, is associated with increased survival rates. Transl Oncol 2021; 14:101069. [PMID: 33780706 PMCID: PMC8039726 DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Establishment of an immunological distinction between endometrioid and serous uterine cancers. High priority CDR3s, mutant amino acids (AA) for endometrioid cancer prognosis, therapy tools. Further understanding of CDR3-mutant AA complementarity scoring factors, such as HLA binding.
Uterine cancer has been associated with a T-cell immune response that leads to increased survival. Therefore, we used several bioinformatics approaches to explore specific interactions between T-cell receptor (TCR) and tumor mutant peptide sequences. Using endometrioid uterine cancer exome files from the The Cancer Genome Atlas database, we obtained tumor resident V-J recombinations for the T-Cell Receptor alpha gene (TRA). The charged-based, chemical complementarity for each patient's LRP2 or TTN mutant amino acids (AAs) and the recovered, TRA complementarity determining region-3 (CDR3) sequences was calculated, allowing a division of patients into complementary and noncomplementary groups. Complementary groups with TTN mutants had increased disease-free survival and increased expression of complement genes. Furthermore, the survival distinction based on CDR3-mutant peptide complementarity was independent of programmatically assessed HLA class II binding and was not observable based on the CDR3 AA chemical features alone. The above approach provides a potential, highly efficient method for identifying TCR targets in uterine cancer and may aid in the development of novel prognostic tools.
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Khunger A, Piazza E, Warren S, Smith TH, Ren X, White A, Elliott N, Cesano A, Beechem JM, Kirkwood JM, Tarhini AA. CTLA-4 blockade and interferon-α induce proinflammatory transcriptional changes in the tumor immune landscape that correlate with pathologic response in melanoma. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0245287. [PMID: 33428680 PMCID: PMC7799833 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Patients with locally/regionally advanced melanoma were treated with neoadjuvant combination immunotherapy with high-dose interferon α-2b (HDI) and ipilimumab in a phase I clinical trial. Tumor specimens were obtained prior to the initiation of neoadjuvant therapy, at the time of surgery and progression if available. In this study, gene expression profiles of tumor specimens (N = 27) were investigated using the NanoString nCounter® platform to evaluate associations with clinical outcomes (pathologic response, radiologic response, relapse-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS)) and define biomarkers associated with tumor response. The Tumor Inflammation Signature (TIS), an 18-gene signature that enriches for response to Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) checkpoint blockade, was also evaluated for association with clinical response and survival. It was observed that neoadjuvant ipilimumab-HDI therapy demonstrated an upregulation of immune-related genes, chemokines, and transcription regulator genes involved in immune cell activation, function, or cell proliferation. Importantly, increased expression of baseline pro-inflammatory genes CCL19, CD3D, CD8A, CD22, LY9, IL12RB1, C1S, C7, AMICA1, TIAM1, TIGIT, THY1 was associated with longer OS (p < 0.05). In addition, multiple genes that encode a component or a regulator of the extracellular matrix such as MMP2 and COL1A2 were identified post-treatment as being associated with longer RFS and OS. In all baseline tissues, high TIS scores were associated with longer OS (p = 0.0166). Also, downregulated expression of cell proliferation-related genes such as CUL1, CCND1 and AAMP at baseline was associated with pathological and radiological response (unadjusted p < 0.01). In conclusion, we identified numerous genes that play roles in multiple biological pathways involved in immune activation, immune suppression and cell proliferation correlating with pathological/radiological responses following neoadjuvant immunotherapy highlighting the complexity of immune responses modulated by immunotherapy. Our observations suggest that TIS may be a useful biomarker for predicting survival outcomes with combination immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Khunger
- Department of Internal Medicine, Memorial Hospital West, Pembroke Pines, Florida, United States of America
| | - Erin Piazza
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Sarah Warren
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Thomas H. Smith
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Xing Ren
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Andrew White
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Nathan Elliott
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - Alessandra Cesano
- ESSA Pharma, South San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Joseph M. Beechem
- NanoString® Technologies, Inc., Seattle, Washington, United States of America
| | - John M. Kirkwood
- UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Ahmad A. Tarhini
- Department of Cutaneous Oncology and Immunology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida, United States of America
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Arndt MF, Koohestani DM, Chobrutskiy BI, Mihyu MM, Diaz M, Gozlan EC, Yeagley M, Zaman S, Roca AM, Blanck G. TRBV and TRBJ usage, when paired with specific HLA alleles, associates with distinct head and neck cancer survival rates. Hum Immunol 2020; 81:692-696. [PMID: 32950267 DOI: 10.1016/j.humimm.2020.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Common or dominant, T-cell receptor (TCR), V and J usage, in combination with particular human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles, has been associated with differing outcomes in viral infections, autoimmunity, and more recently, in cancer. Cervical cancer in particular represents the most dramatic series of distinctions of outcomes associated with differing combinations of dominant V or J usage and HLA alleles, possibly because of the strong association of cervical cancer with human papilloma virus (HPV), in turn leading to a likely molecular consistency in the mechanism of HPV antigen presentation. Thus, we considered assessing TRB V and J usage, HLA allele combinations, for their associations with survival rates and related data, in the cancer genome atlas head and neck cancer dataset. We obtained the TRB VDJ recombination reads from both the blood and tumor exome files and determined the V and J identities. We then established case ID (patient) subsets of V or J usage, HLA alleles, and determined, for example, that the TRBJ2-7, HLA-B*40:01 combination was associated with a better disease free survival rate than were either the TRBJ1-3, HLA-DPB1*03:01 or the TRBJ2-1, HLA-DPB1*02:01 combinations. Furthermore, these analyses led to the conclusion that TRBJ1-5 usage, and the HLA-C*08:02 and HLA-DRB1*03:01 alleles, had independent associations with distinct overall survival rates. In sum, the results suggest that dominant V or J usage, HLA allele combinations, and in certain cases, dominant V or J usage independently of HLA, could be useful in prognosis and in guiding immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary F Arndt
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Darush M Koohestani
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Boris I Chobrutskiy
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Moody M Mihyu
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Michael Diaz
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Etienne C Gozlan
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Michelle Yeagley
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Saif Zaman
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - Andrea M Roca
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States
| | - George Blanck
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, United States; Department of Immunology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, United States.
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