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Xia A, Yue Q, Zhu M, Xu J, Liu S, Wu Y, Wang Z, Xu Z, An H, Wang Q, Wang S, Sun B. The cancer-testis lncRNA LINC01977 promotes HCC progression by interacting with RBM39 to prevent Notch2 ubiquitination. Cell Death Discov 2023; 9:169. [PMID: 37198207 DOI: 10.1038/s41420-023-01459-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer-testis genes are involved in the occurrence and development of cancer, but the role of cancer-testis-associated lncRNAs (CT-lncRNAs) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be explored. Here, we discovered a novel CT-lncRNA, LINC01977, based on the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. LINC01977 was exclusively expressed in testes and highly expressed in HCC. High LINC01977 levels correlated with poorer overall survival (OS) in individuals with HCC. Functional assays showed that LINC01977 promoted HCC growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, LINC01977 directly bound to RBM39 to promote the further entry of Notch2 into the nucleus, thereby preventing the ubiquitination and degradation of Notch2. Furthermore, the RNA binding protein IGF2BP2, one of the m6A modification readers, enhanced the stability of LINC01977, resulting in its high level in HCC. Therefore, the data suggest that LINC01977 interacts with RBM39 and promotes the progression of HCC by inhibiting Notch2 ubiquitination and degradation, indicating that LINC01977 may be a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for HCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anliang Xia
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Qi Yue
- Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Clinical College of Jiangsu University, Nanjing, China
| | - Mingming Zhu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Jianbo Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Affiliated Huai'an No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China
| | - Siyuan Liu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yue Wu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhangding Wang
- Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhu Xu
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Hongda An
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Qiang Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
| | - Shouyu Wang
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
| | - Beicheng Sun
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
- Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Clinical College of Jiangsu University, Nanjing, China.
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Thelen M, Keller D, Lehmann J, Wennhold K, Weitz H, Bauer E, Gathof B, Brüggemann M, Kotrova M, Quaas A, Mallmann C, Chon SH, Hillmer AM, Bruns C, von Bergwelt-Baildon M, Garcia-Marquez MA, Schlößer HA. Immune responses against shared antigens are common in esophago-gastric cancer and can be enhanced using CD40-activated B cells. J Immunother Cancer 2022; 10:jitc-2022-005200. [PMID: 36600602 PMCID: PMC9743382 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2022-005200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Specific immune response is a hallmark of cancer immunotherapy and shared tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) are important targets. Recent advances using combined cellular therapy against multiple TAAs renewed the interest in this class of antigens. Our study aims to determine the role of TAAs in esophago-gastric adenocarcinoma (EGA). METHODS RNA expression was assessed by NanoString in tumor samples of 41 treatment-naïve EGA patients. Endogenous T cell and antibody responses against the 10 most relevant TAAs were determined by FluoroSpot and protein-bound bead assays. Digital image analysis was used to evaluate the correlation of TAAs and T-cell abundance. T-cell receptor sequencing, in vitro expansion with autologous CD40-activated B cells (CD40Bs) and in vitro cytotoxicity assays were applied to determine specific expansion, clonality and cytotoxic activity of expanded T cells. RESULTS 68.3% of patients expressed ≥5 TAAs simultaneously with coregulated clusters, which were similar to data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (n=505). Endogenous cellular or humoral responses against ≥1 TAA were detectable in 75.0% and 53.7% of patients, respectively. We found a correlation of T-cell abundance and the expression of TAAs and genes related to antigen presentation. TAA-specific T-cell responses were polyclonal, could be induced or enhanced using autologous CD40Bs and were cytotoxic in vitro. Despite the frequent expression of TAAs co-occurrence with immune responses was rare. CONCLUSIONS We identified the most relevant TAAs in EGA for monitoring of clinical trials and as therapeutic targets. Antigen-escape rather than missing immune response should be considered as mechanism underlying immunotherapy resistance of EGA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Thelen
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Diandra Keller
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Jonas Lehmann
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Kerstin Wennhold
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Hendrik Weitz
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Eugen Bauer
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, University of Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Birgit Gathof
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, University of Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Monika Brüggemann
- Klinik für Innere Medizin II, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Michaela Kotrova
- Klinik für Innere Medizin II, Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Alexander Quaas
- Institute of Pathology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Christoph Mallmann
- Department of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplantation Surgery, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Seung-Hun Chon
- Department of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplantation Surgery, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Axel M Hillmer
- Institute of Pathology, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Christiane Bruns
- Department of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplantation Surgery, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Michael von Bergwelt-Baildon
- Department of Internal Medicine III, University Hospital, Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, München, Germany,German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maria Alejandra Garcia-Marquez
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Hans Anton Schlößer
- Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany,Department of General, Visceral, Cancer and Transplantation Surgery, University of Cologne, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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Schirrmacher V, van Gool S, Stuecker W. Counteracting Immunosuppression in the Tumor Microenvironment by Oncolytic Newcastle Disease Virus and Cellular Immunotherapy. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:13050. [PMID: 36361831 PMCID: PMC9655431 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232113050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/23/2022] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
An apparent paradox exists between the evidence for spontaneous systemic T cell- mediated anti-tumor immune responses in cancer patients, observed particularly in their bone marrow, and local tumor growth in the periphery. This phenomenon, known as "concomitant immunity" suggests that the local tumor and its tumor microenvironment (TME) prevent systemic antitumor immunity to become effective. Oncolytic Newcastle disease virus (NDV), an agent with inherent anti-neoplastic and immune stimulatory properties, is capable of breaking therapy resistance and immunosuppression. This review updates latest information about immunosuppression by the TME and discusses mechanisms of how oncolytic viruses, in particular NDV, and cellular immunotherapy can counteract the immunosuppressive effect of the TME. With regard to cellular immunotherapy, the review presents pre-clinical studies of post-operative active-specific immunotherapy and of adoptive T cell-mediated therapy in immunocompetent mice. Memory T cell (MTC) transfer in tumor challenged T cell-deficient nu/nu mice demonstrates longevity and functionality of these cells. Graft-versus-leukemia (GvL) studies in mice demonstrate complete remission of late-stage disease including metastases and cachexia. T cell based immunotherapy studies with human cells in human tumor xenotransplanted NOD/SCID mice demonstrate superiority of bone marrow-derived as compared to blood-derived MTCs. Results from clinical studies presented include vaccination studies using two different types of NDV-modified cancer vaccine and a pilot adoptive T-cell mediated therapy study using re-activated bone marrow-derived cancer-reactive MTCs. As an example for what can be expected from clinical immunotherapy against tumors with an immunosuppressive TME, results from vaccination studies are presented from the aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma multiforme. The last decades of basic research in virology, oncology and immunology can be considered as a success story. Based on discoveries of these research areas, translational research and clinical studies have changed the way of treatment of cancer by introducing and including immunotherapy.
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