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Cornish AJ, Gruber AJ, Kinnersley B, Chubb D, Frangou A, Caravagna G, Noyvert B, Lakatos E, Wood HM, Thorn S, Culliford R, Arnedo-Pac C, Househam J, Cross W, Sud A, Law P, Leathlobhair MN, Hawari A, Woolley C, Sherwood K, Feeley N, Gül G, Fernandez-Tajes J, Zapata L, Alexandrov LB, Murugaesu N, Sosinsky A, Mitchell J, Lopez-Bigas N, Quirke P, Church DN, Tomlinson IPM, Sottoriva A, Graham TA, Wedge DC, Houlston RS. The genomic landscape of 2,023 colorectal cancers. Nature 2024; 633:127-136. [PMID: 39112709 PMCID: PMC11374690 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07747-9] [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] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/17/2024]
Abstract
Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is a common cause of mortality1, but a comprehensive description of its genomic landscape is lacking2-9. Here we perform whole-genome sequencing of 2,023 CRC samples from participants in the UK 100,000 Genomes Project, thereby providing a highly detailed somatic mutational landscape of this cancer. Integrated analyses identify more than 250 putative CRC driver genes, many not previously implicated in CRC or other cancers, including several recurrent changes outside the coding genome. We extend the molecular pathways involved in CRC development, define four new common subgroups of microsatellite-stable CRC based on genomic features and show that these groups have independent prognostic associations. We also characterize several rare molecular CRC subgroups, some with potential clinical relevance, including cancers with both microsatellite and chromosomal instability. We demonstrate a spectrum of mutational profiles across the colorectum, which reflect aetiological differences. These include the role of Escherichia colipks+ colibactin in rectal cancers10 and the importance of the SBS93 signature11-13, which suggests that diet or smoking is a risk factor. Immune-escape driver mutations14 are near-ubiquitous in hypermutant tumours and occur in about half of microsatellite-stable CRCs, often in the form of HLA copy number changes. Many driver mutations are actionable, including those associated with rare subgroups (for example, BRCA1 and IDH1), highlighting the role of whole-genome sequencing in optimizing patient care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex J Cornish
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Andreas J Gruber
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Ben Kinnersley
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- University College London Cancer Institute, London, UK
| | - Daniel Chubb
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Anna Frangou
- Big Data Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
| | - Giulio Caravagna
- Department of Mathematics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Boris Noyvert
- Cancer Research UK Centre and Centre for Computational Biology, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Eszter Lakatos
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Henry M Wood
- Pathology and Data Analytics, Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Steve Thorn
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Richard Culliford
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Claudia Arnedo-Pac
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jacob Househam
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - William Cross
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Research Department of Pathology, University College London, UCL Cancer Institute, London, UK
| | - Amit Sud
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Philip Law
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | | | - Aliah Hawari
- Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Connor Woolley
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Kitty Sherwood
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Edinburgh Cancer Research, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Nathalie Feeley
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Edinburgh Cancer Research, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Güler Gül
- Edinburgh Cancer Research, Institute of Genetics and Cancer, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Luis Zapata
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Ludmil B Alexandrov
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Moores Cancer Center, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nirupa Murugaesu
- Genomics England, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Alona Sosinsky
- Genomics England, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Jonathan Mitchell
- Genomics England, William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Nuria Lopez-Bigas
- Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Philip Quirke
- Pathology and Data Analytics, Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James's, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - David N Church
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Oxford NIHR Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Trevor A Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - David C Wedge
- Manchester Cancer Research Centre, Division of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Richard S Houlston
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
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2
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Yang C, Trivedi V, Dyson K, Gu T, Candelario KM, Yegorov O, Mitchell DA. Identification of tumor rejection antigens and the immunologic landscape of medulloblastoma. Genome Med 2024; 16:102. [PMID: 39160595 PMCID: PMC11331754 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-024-01363-y] [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: 04/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The current standard of care treatments for medulloblastoma are insufficient as these do not take tumor heterogeneity into account. Newer, safer, patient-specific treatment approaches are required to treat high-risk medulloblastoma patients who are not cured by the standard therapies. Immunotherapy is a promising treatment modality that could be key to improving survival and avoiding morbidity. For an effective immune response, appropriate tumor antigens must be targeted. While medulloblastoma patients with subgroup-specific genetic substitutions have been previously reported, the immunogenicity of these genetic alterations remains unknown. The aim of this study is to identify potential tumor rejection antigens for the development of antigen-directed cellular therapies for medulloblastoma. METHODS We developed a cancer immunogenomics pipeline and performed a comprehensive analysis of medulloblastoma subgroup-specific transcription profiles (n = 170, 18 WNT, 46 SHH, 41 Group 3, and 65 Group 4 patient tumors) available through International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and European Genome-Phenome Archive (EGA). We performed in silico antigen prediction across a broad array of antigen classes including neoantigens, tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), and fusion proteins. Furthermore, we evaluated the antigen processing and presentation pathway in tumor cells and the immune infiltrating cell landscape using the latest computational deconvolution methods. RESULTS Medulloblastoma patients were found to express multiple private and shared immunogenic antigens. The proportion of predicted TAAs was higher than neoantigens and gene fusions for all molecular subgroups, except for sonic hedgehog (SHH), which had a higher neoantigen burden. Importantly, cancer-testis antigens, as well as previously unappreciated neurodevelopmental antigens, were found to be expressed by most patients across all medulloblastoma subgroups. Despite being immunologically cold, medulloblastoma subgroups were found to have distinct immune cell gene signatures. CONCLUSIONS Using a custom antigen prediction pipeline, we identified potential tumor rejection antigens with important implications for the development of immunotherapy for medulloblastoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Changlin Yang
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Vrunda Trivedi
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Kyle Dyson
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Tongjun Gu
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Kate M Candelario
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Oleg Yegorov
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA
| | - Duane A Mitchell
- UF Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program, Preston A. Wells Center for Brain Tumor Therapy, Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, University of Florida, 1333 Center Drive, BSB B1-118, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA.
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3
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Guan P, Chen J, Mo C, Fukawa T, Zhang C, Cai X, Li M, Hong JH, Chan JY, Ng CCY, Lee JY, Wong SF, Liu W, Zeng X, Wang P, Xiao R, Rajasegaran V, Myint SS, Lim AMS, Yeong JPS, Tan PH, Ong CK, Xu T, Du Y, Bai F, Yao X, Teh BT, Tan J. Comprehensive molecular characterization of collecting duct carcinoma for therapeutic vulnerability. EMBO Mol Med 2024:10.1038/s44321-024-00102-5. [PMID: 39122888 DOI: 10.1038/s44321-024-00102-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 06/24/2024] [Accepted: 07/01/2024] [Indexed: 08/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Collecting duct carcinoma (CDC) is an aggressive rare subtype of kidney cancer with unmet clinical needs. Little is known about its underlying molecular alterations and etiology, primarily due to its rarity, and lack of preclinical models. This study aims to comprehensively characterize molecular alterations in CDC and identify its therapeutic vulnerabilities. Through whole-exome and transcriptome sequencing, we identified KRAS hotspot mutations (G12A/D/V) in 3/13 (23%) of the patients, in addition to known TP53, NF2 mutations. 3/13 (23%) patients carried a mutational signature (SBS22) caused by aristolochic acid (AA) exposures, known to be more prevalent in Asia, highlighting a geologically specific disease etiology. We further discovered that cell cycle-related pathways were the most predominantly dysregulated pathways. Our drug screening with our newly established CDC preclinical models identified a CDK9 inhibitor LDC000067 that specifically inhibited CDC tumor growth and prolonged survival. Our study not only improved our understanding of oncogenic molecular alterations of Asian CDC, but also identified cell-cycle machinery as a therapeutic vulnerability, laying the foundation for clinical trials to treat patients with such aggressive cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peiyong Guan
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Genome, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore
| | - Jianfeng Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
| | - Chengqiang Mo
- Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Tomoya Fukawa
- Department of Urology, Tokushima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan
| | - Chao Zhang
- Department of Genitourinary Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center of Cancer, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, P. R. China
| | - Xiuyu Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
| | - Mei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
- Department of Pathology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, PR China
| | - Jing Han Hong
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Jason Yongsheng Chan
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Cedric Chuan Young Ng
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Jing Yi Lee
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Suet Far Wong
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Wei Liu
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Xian Zeng
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
| | - Peili Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
| | - Rong Xiao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China
| | - Vikneswari Rajasegaran
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Swe Swe Myint
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Abner Ming Sun Lim
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Joe Poh Sheng Yeong
- Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Puay Hoon Tan
- Department of Anatomical Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- Division of Pathology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
- Luma Medical Centre, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Choon Kiat Ong
- Lymphoma Genomic Translational Research Laboratory, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore
| | - Tao Xu
- Department of Urology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China
| | - Yiqing Du
- Department of Urology, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing, 100044, China
| | - Fan Bai
- Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center (BIOPIC), Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Genomics (ICG), School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Xin Yao
- Department of Genitourinary Oncology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center of Cancer, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin's Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, P. R. China.
| | - Bin Tean Teh
- Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 60 Biopolis Street, Genome, Singapore, 138672, Republic of Singapore.
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Programme, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
- SingHealth/Duke-NUS Institute of Precision Medicine, National Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
| | - Jing Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, P. R. China.
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, Division of Medical Sciences, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
- Hainan Academy of Medical Science, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, PR China.
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4
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Jurczak S, Druchok M. Cancer Immunotherapies Ignited by a Thorough Machine Learning-Based Selection of Neoantigens. Adv Biol (Weinh) 2024:e2400114. [PMID: 38971967 DOI: 10.1002/adbi.202400114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024]
Abstract
Identification of neoantigens, derived from somatic DNA alterations, emerges as a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapies. However, not all somatic mutations result in immunogenicity, hence, efficient tools to predict the immunogenicity of neoepitopes are needed. A pipeline is presented that provides a comprehensive solution for the identification of neoepitopes based on genomic sequencing data. The pipeline consists of a data pre-processing step and three machine learning predictive steps. The pre-processing step analyzes genomic data for different types of alterations, produces a list of all possible antigens, and determines the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type and T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. The first predictive step performs a classification into antigens and neoantigens, selecting neoantigens for further consideration. The next step predicts the strength of binding between neoantigens and available major histocompatibility complexes of class I (MHC-I). The third step is engaged to predict the likelihood of inducing an immune response. Neoepitopes satisfying all three predictive stages are assumed to be potent candidates to ensure immunogenicity. The predictive pipeline is used in two regimes: selecting neoantigens from patients' sequencing data and generating novel neoantigen candidates. Two different techniques - Monte Carlo and Reinforcement Learning - are implemented to facilitate the generative regime.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Jurczak
- SoftServe Inc., 11/13 Building B, Jaworska St., Wroclaw, 53-612, Poland
| | - Maksym Druchok
- SoftServe Inc., 2d Sadova St., Lviv, 79021, Ukraine
- Institute for Condensed Matter Physics, 1 Svientsitskii St., Lviv, 79011, Ukraine
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5
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Kayhanian H, Cross W, van der Horst SEM, Barmpoutis P, Lakatos E, Caravagna G, Zapata L, Van Hoeck A, Middelkamp S, Litchfield K, Steele C, Waddingham W, Patel D, Milite S, Jin C, Baker AM, Alexander DC, Khan K, Hochhauser D, Novelli M, Werner B, van Boxtel R, Hageman JH, Buissant des Amorie JR, Linares J, Ligtenberg MJL, Nagtegaal ID, Laclé MM, Moons LMG, Brosens LAA, Pillay N, Sottoriva A, Graham TA, Rodriguez-Justo M, Shiu KK, Snippert HJG, Jansen M. Homopolymer switches mediate adaptive mutability in mismatch repair-deficient colorectal cancer. Nat Genet 2024; 56:1420-1433. [PMID: 38956208 PMCID: PMC11250277 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01777-9] [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: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
Mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient cancer evolves through the stepwise erosion of coding homopolymers in target genes. Curiously, the MMR genes MutS homolog 6 (MSH6) and MutS homolog 3 (MSH3) also contain coding homopolymers, and these are frequent mutational targets in MMR-deficient cancers. The impact of incremental MMR mutations on MMR-deficient cancer evolution is unknown. Here we show that microsatellite instability modulates DNA repair by toggling hypermutable mononucleotide homopolymer runs in MSH6 and MSH3 through stochastic frameshift switching. Spontaneous mutation and reversion modulate subclonal mutation rate, mutation bias and HLA and neoantigen diversity. Patient-derived organoids corroborate these observations and show that MMR homopolymer sequences drift back into reading frame in the absence of immune selection, suggesting a fitness cost of elevated mutation rates. Combined experimental and simulation studies demonstrate that subclonal immune selection favors incremental MMR mutations. Overall, our data demonstrate that MMR-deficient colorectal cancers fuel intratumor heterogeneity by adapting subclonal mutation rate and diversity to immune selection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - William Cross
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Cancer Mechanisms and Biomarker Discovery Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK
| | - Suzanne E M van der Horst
- Oncode Institute, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Panagiotis Barmpoutis
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Eszter Lakatos
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Giulio Caravagna
- Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Luis Zapata
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Arne Van Hoeck
- Oncode Institute, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Sjors Middelkamp
- Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | | | | | - Dominic Patel
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Salvatore Milite
- Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Geosciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Chen Jin
- UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ann-Marie Baker
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- UCL Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Khurum Khan
- Department of Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel Hochhauser
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Marco Novelli
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Pathology, University College London Hospital, London, UK
| | - Benjamin Werner
- Centre for Cancer Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Ruben van Boxtel
- Oncode Institute, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Joris H Hageman
- Oncode Institute, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | | | - Marjolijn J L Ligtenberg
- Department of Pathology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Iris D Nagtegaal
- Department of Pathology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Miangela M Laclé
- Department of Pathology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Leon M G Moons
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Lodewijk A A Brosens
- Department of Pathology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | | | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Trevor A Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Cancer Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Manuel Rodriguez-Justo
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Pathology, University College London Hospital, London, UK
| | - Kai-Keen Shiu
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Oncology, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | - Hugo J G Snippert
- Oncode Institute, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Marnix Jansen
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK.
- Department of Pathology, University College London Hospital, London, UK.
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6
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Hao Q, Long Y, Yang Y, Deng Y, Ding Z, Yang L, Shu Y, Xu H. Development and Clinical Applications of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines with Individualized and Shared Neoantigens. Vaccines (Basel) 2024; 12:717. [PMID: 39066355 PMCID: PMC11281709 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12070717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2024] [Revised: 06/18/2024] [Accepted: 06/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Neoantigens, presented as peptides on the surfaces of cancer cells, have recently been proposed as optimal targets for immunotherapy in clinical practice. The promising outcomes of neoantigen-based cancer vaccines have inspired enthusiasm for their broader clinical applications. However, the individualized tumor-specific antigens (TSA) entail considerable costs and time due to the variable immunogenicity and response rates of these neoantigens-based vaccines, influenced by factors such as neoantigen response, vaccine types, and combination therapy. Given the crucial role of neoantigen efficacy, a number of bioinformatics algorithms and pipelines have been developed to improve the accuracy rate of prediction through considering a series of factors involving in HLA-peptide-TCR complex formation, including peptide presentation, HLA-peptide affinity, and TCR recognition. On the other hand, shared neoantigens, originating from driver mutations at hot mutation spots (e.g., KRASG12D), offer a promising and ideal target for the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines. A series of clinical practices have established the efficacy of these vaccines in patients with distinct HLA haplotypes. Moreover, increasing evidence demonstrated that a combination of tumor associated antigens (TAAs) and neoantigens can also improve the prognosis, thus expand the repertoire of shared neoantigens for cancer vaccines. In this review, we provide an overview of the complex process involved in identifying personalized neoantigens, their clinical applications, advances in vaccine technology, and explore the therapeutic potential of shared neoantigen strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Hao
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
| | - Yuhang Long
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
| | - Yi Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
| | - Yiqi Deng
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
- Colorectal Cancer Center, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Zhenyu Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
| | - Li Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
| | - Yang Shu
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
- Gastric Cancer Center, Department of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Institute of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Heng Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, Department of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China; (Q.H.); (Y.L.); (Y.Y.); (Y.D.); (Z.D.); (L.Y.)
- Institute of General Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Research Center of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
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7
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Chen S, Xie D, Li Z, Wang J, Hu Z, Zhou D. Frequency-dependent selection of neoantigens fosters tumor immune escape and predicts immunotherapy response. Commun Biol 2024; 7:770. [PMID: 38918569 PMCID: PMC11199503 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06460-7] [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: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Cancer is an evolutionary process shaped by selective pressure from the microenvironments. However, recent studies reveal that certain tumors undergo neutral evolution where there is no detectable fitness difference amongst the cells following malignant transformation. Here, through computational modeling, we demonstrate that negative frequency-dependent selection (or NFDS), where the immune response against cancer cells depends on the clonality of neoantigens, can lead to an immunogenic landscape that is highly similar to neutral evolution. Crucially, NFDS promotes high antigenic heterogeneity and early immune evasion in hypermutable tumors, leading to poor responses to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. Our model also reveals that NFDS is characterized by a negative association between average clonality and total burden of neoantigens. Indeed, this unique feature of NFDS is common in the whole-exome sequencing (WES) datasets (357 tumor samples from 275 patients) from four melanoma cohorts with ICB therapy and a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) WES dataset (327 tumor samples from 100 patients). Altogether, our study provides quantitative evidence supporting the theory of NFDS in cancer, explaining the high prevalence of neutral-looking tumors. These findings also highlight the critical role of frequency-dependent selection in devising more efficient and predictive immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaoqing Chen
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
- Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Duo Xie
- Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China
| | - Zan Li
- Life Science Research Center, Core Research Facilities, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jiguang Wang
- Division of Life Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China
- Hong Kong Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, InnoHK, Hong Kong SAR, China
- HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Collaborative Innovation Research Institute, Futian, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zheng Hu
- Key Laboratory of Quantitative Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
| | - Da Zhou
- School of Mathematical Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
- National Institute for Data Science in Health and Medicine, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
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8
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Xia H, Hoang M, Schmidt E, Kiwala S, McMichael J, Skidmore ZL, Fisk B, Song JJ, Hundal J, Mooney T, Walker JR, Peter Goedegebuure S, Miller CA, Gillanders WE, Griffith OL, Griffith M. pVACview: an interactive visualization tool for efficient neoantigen prioritization and selection. ARXIV 2024:arXiv:2406.06985v1. [PMID: 38947921 PMCID: PMC11213132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Background Neoantigen targeting therapies including personalized vaccines have shown promise in the treatment of cancers, particularly when used in combination with checkpoint blockade therapy. At least 100 clinical trials involving these therapies are underway globally. Accurate identification and prioritization of neoantigens is highly relevant to designing these trials, predicting treatment response, and understanding mechanisms of resistance. With the advent of massively parallel DNA and RNA sequencing technologies, it is now possible to computationally predict neoantigens based on patient-specific variant information. However, numerous factors must be considered when prioritizing neoantigens for use in personalized therapies. Complexities such as alternative transcript annotations, various binding, presentation and immunogenicity prediction algorithms, and variable peptide lengths/registers all potentially impact the neoantigen selection process. There has been a rapid development of computational tools that attempt to account for these complexities. While these tools generate numerous algorithmic predictions for neoantigen characterization, results from these pipelines are difficult to navigate and require extensive knowledge of the underlying tools for accurate interpretation. This often leads to over-simplification of pipeline outputs to make them tractable, for example limiting prediction to a single RNA isoform or only summarizing the top ranked of many possible peptide candidates. In addition to variant detection, gene expression and predicted peptide binding affinities, recent studies have also demonstrated the importance of mutation location, allele-specific anchor locations, and variation of T-cell response to long versus short peptides. Due to the intricate nature and number of salient neoantigen features, presenting all relevant information to facilitate candidate selection for downstream applications is a difficult challenge that current tools fail to address. Results We have created pVACview, the first interactive tool designed to aid in the prioritization and selection of neoantigen candidates for personalized neoantigen therapies including cancer vaccines. pVACview has a user-friendly and intuitive interface where users can upload, explore, select and export their neoantigen candidates. The tool allows users to visualize candidates across three different levels, including variant, transcript and peptide information. Conclusions pVACview will allow researchers to analyze and prioritize neoantigen candidates with greater efficiency and accuracy in basic and translational settings The application is available as part of the pVACtools pipeline at pvactools.org and as an online server at pvacview.org.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huiming Xia
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - My Hoang
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Evelyn Schmidt
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Susanna Kiwala
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joshua McMichael
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Zachary L Skidmore
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Bryan Fisk
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jonathan J Song
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jasreet Hundal
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Thomas Mooney
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jason R Walker
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - S Peter Goedegebuure
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Christopher A Miller
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - William E Gillanders
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Obi L Griffith
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Malachi Griffith
- Division of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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9
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Machaca V, Goyzueta V, Cruz MG, Sejje E, Pilco LM, López J, Túpac Y. Transformers meets neoantigen detection: a systematic literature review. J Integr Bioinform 2024; 21:jib-2023-0043. [PMID: 38960869 DOI: 10.1515/jib-2023-0043] [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: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Cancer immunology offers a new alternative to traditional cancer treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. One notable alternative is the development of personalized vaccines based on cancer neoantigens. Moreover, Transformers are considered a revolutionary development in artificial intelligence with a significant impact on natural language processing (NLP) tasks and have been utilized in proteomics studies in recent years. In this context, we conducted a systematic literature review to investigate how Transformers are applied in each stage of the neoantigen detection process. Additionally, we mapped current pipelines and examined the results of clinical trials involving cancer vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Erika Sejje
- Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa, Perú
| | | | | | - Yván Túpac
- 187038 Universidad Católica San Pablo , Arequipa, Perú
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10
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Houlahan KE, Khan A, Greenwald NF, Vivas CS, West RB, Angelo M, Curtis C. Germline-mediated immunoediting sculpts breast cancer subtypes and metastatic proclivity. Science 2024; 384:eadh8697. [PMID: 38815010 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh8697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Tumors with the same diagnosis can have different molecular profiles and response to treatment. It remains unclear when and why these differences arise. Somatic genomic aberrations occur within the context of a highly variable germline genome. Interrogating 5870 breast cancer lesions, we demonstrated that germline-derived epitopes in recurrently amplified genes influence somatic evolution by mediating immunoediting. Individuals with a high germline-epitope burden in human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/ERBB2) are less likely to develop HER2-positive breast cancer compared with other subtypes. The same holds true for recurrent amplicons defining three aggressive estrogen receptor (ER)-positive subgroups. Tumors that overcome such immune-mediated negative selection are more aggressive and demonstrate an "immune cold" phenotype. These data show that the germline genome plays a role in dictating somatic evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen E Houlahan
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Aziz Khan
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Noah F Greenwald
- Cancer Biology Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | | | - Robert B West
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Michael Angelo
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
| | - Christina Curtis
- Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
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11
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Bulashevska A, Nacsa Z, Lang F, Braun M, Machyna M, Diken M, Childs L, König R. Artificial intelligence and neoantigens: paving the path for precision cancer immunotherapy. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1394003. [PMID: 38868767 PMCID: PMC11167095 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1394003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapy has witnessed rapid advancement in recent years, with a particular focus on neoantigens as promising targets for personalized treatments. The convergence of immunogenomics, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence (AI) has propelled the development of innovative neoantigen discovery tools and pipelines. These tools have revolutionized our ability to identify tumor-specific antigens, providing the foundation for precision cancer immunotherapy. AI-driven algorithms can process extensive amounts of data, identify patterns, and make predictions that were once challenging to achieve. However, the integration of AI comes with its own set of challenges, leaving space for further research. With particular focus on the computational approaches, in this article we have explored the current landscape of neoantigen prediction, the fundamental concepts behind, the challenges and their potential solutions providing a comprehensive overview of this rapidly evolving field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alla Bulashevska
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Zsófia Nacsa
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Franziska Lang
- TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| | - Markus Braun
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Martin Machyna
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Mustafa Diken
- TRON - Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University gGmbH, Mainz, Germany
| | - Liam Childs
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Renate König
- Host-Pathogen-Interactions, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
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12
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Li X, Tang Z, Li Z, Li Z, Zhao P, Song Y, Yang K, Xia Z, Wang Y, Guo D. Somatic mutations that affect early genetic progression and immune microenvironment in gastric carcinoma. Pathol Res Pract 2024; 257:155310. [PMID: 38663178 DOI: 10.1016/j.prp.2024.155310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024]
Abstract
Gastric carcinoma (GC) is a high heterogeneity and malignant tumor with a poor prognosis. The current implementation of immunotherapy in GC is limited due to the insufficient exploration of immune-related mutations and speculated early mutation events. Therefore, we performed whole-exome sequencing on 40 patients with GC to explore their genetic characteristics, shedding light on the order of genetic events, somatic mutations impacting the immune microenvironment, and potential biomarkers for immunotherapy. Regarding genetic events, TP53 disruptions were identified as frequent and early events in GC progression, often occurring alongside other gene mutations. The mutations occurring in GANS, SMAD4, and POLE were early independent events. Patients harboring CSMD3, FAT4, FLG, KMT2C, LRP1B, MUC5B, MUC16, PLEC, RNF43, SYNE1, TP53, TTN, XIRP2, and ZFHX4 mutations tended to have decreased B cells, T cells, macrophage, neutrophil, and dendritic cells infiltration, except for the ARID1A gene mutations. We also found patients with microsatellite instability-high tumors had higher homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) scores. HRD showed a positive correlation with tumor mutational burden, which might serve as indirect evidence supporting the potential of HRD as a biomarker for GC. These findings highlighted GC's high heterogeneity and complexity and provided valuable insights into the somatic mutations that affect early genetic progression and immune microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiao Li
- Center for GI Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, 16 Jiangsu Road, Qingdao 266003, China
| | - Zirui Tang
- School of Software Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110169, China; Shenzhen Byoryn Technology Co. Ltd, Shenzhen, China
| | - Zhaopeng Li
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, China
| | - Zhao Li
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, China
| | - Ping Zhao
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, China
| | - Yi Song
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, China
| | - Kexin Yang
- Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China
| | - Zihan Xia
- The First Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710061, China
| | - Yinan Wang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen 518036, China.
| | - Dong Guo
- Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266003, China.
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13
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Zhang T, Sang J, Hoang PH, Zhao W, Rosenbaum J, Johnson KE, Klimczak LJ, McElderry J, Klein A, Wirth C, Bergstrom EN, Díaz-Gay M, Vangara R, Colon-Matos F, Hutchinson A, Lawrence SM, Cole N, Zhu B, Przytycka TM, Shi J, Caporaso NE, Homer R, Pesatori AC, Consonni D, Imielinski M, Chanock SJ, Wedge DC, Gordenin DA, Alexandrov LB, Harris RS, Landi MT. APOBEC shapes tumor evolution and age at onset of lung cancer in smokers. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.02.587805. [PMID: 38617360 PMCID: PMC11014539 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.02.587805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
APOBEC enzymes are part of the innate immunity and are responsible for restricting viruses and retroelements by deaminating cytosine residues1,2. Most solid tumors harbor different levels of somatic mutations attributed to the off-target activities of APOBEC3A (A3A) and/or APOBEC3B (A3B)3-6. However, how APOBEC3A/B enzymes shape the tumor evolution in the presence of exogenous mutagenic processes is largely unknown. Here, by combining deep whole-genome sequencing with multi-omics profiling of 309 lung cancers from smokers with detailed tobacco smoking information, we identify two subtypes defined by low (LAS) and high (HAS) APOBEC mutagenesis. LAS are enriched for A3B-like mutagenesis and KRAS mutations, whereas HAS for A3A-like mutagenesis and TP53 mutations. Unlike APOBEC3A, APOBEC3B expression is strongly associated with an upregulation of the base excision repair pathway. Hypermutation by unrepaired A3A and tobacco smoking mutagenesis combined with TP53-induced genomic instability can trigger senescence7, apoptosis8, and cell regeneration9, as indicated by high expression of pulmonary healing signaling pathway, stemness markers and distal cell-of-origin in HAS. The expected association of tobacco smoking variables (e.g., time to first cigarette) with genomic/epigenomic changes are not observed in HAS, a plausible consequence of frequent cell senescence or apoptosis. HAS have more neoantigens, slower clonal expansion, and older age at onset compared to LAS, particularly in heavy smokers, consistent with high proportions of newly generated, unmutated cells and frequent immuno-editing. These findings show how heterogeneity in mutational burden across co-occurring mutational processes and cell types contributes to tumor development, with important clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tongwu Zhang
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Jian Sang
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Phuc H. Hoang
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Wei Zhao
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Leszek J. Klimczak
- Integrative Bioinformatics Support Group, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - John McElderry
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Alyssa Klein
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Christopher Wirth
- Manchester Cancer Research Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Erik N. Bergstrom
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Bioengineering and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Marcos Díaz-Gay
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Bioengineering and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Raviteja Vangara
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Bioengineering and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Frank Colon-Matos
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Amy Hutchinson
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Scott M. Lawrence
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Nathan Cole
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, Frederick, MD, USA
| | - Bin Zhu
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Teresa M. Przytycka
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Jianxin Shi
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Neil E. Caporaso
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Robert Homer
- Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Angela C. Pesatori
- Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
- Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Dario Consonni
- Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Stephen J. Chanock
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - David C. Wedge
- Manchester Cancer Research Centre, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Dmitry A. Gordenin
- Genome Integrity and Structural Biology Laboratory, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
| | - Ludmil B. Alexandrov
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Bioengineering and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Reuben S. Harris
- Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
| | - Maria Teresa Landi
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA
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14
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Blanco-Heredia J, Souza CA, Trincado JL, Gonzalez-Cao M, Gonçalves-Ribeiro S, Gil SR, Pravdyvets D, Cedeño S, Callari M, Marra A, Gazzo AM, Weigelt B, Pareja F, Vougiouklakis T, Jungbluth AA, Rosell R, Brander C, Tresserra F, Reis-Filho JS, Tiezzi DG, de la Iglesia N, Heyn H, De Mattos-Arruda L. Converging and evolving immuno-genomic routes toward immune escape in breast cancer. Nat Commun 2024; 15:1302. [PMID: 38383522 PMCID: PMC10882008 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45292-1] [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: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024] Open
Abstract
The interactions between tumor and immune cells along the course of breast cancer progression remain largely unknown. Here, we extensively characterize multiple sequential and parallel multiregion tumor and blood specimens of an index patient and a cohort of metastatic triple-negative breast cancers. We demonstrate that a continuous increase in tumor genomic heterogeneity and distinct molecular clocks correlated with resistance to treatment, eventually allowing tumors to escape from immune control. TCR repertoire loses diversity over time, leading to convergent evolution as breast cancer progresses. Although mixed populations of effector memory and cytotoxic single T cells coexist in the peripheral blood, defects in the antigen presentation machinery coupled with subdued T cell recruitment into metastases are observed, indicating a potent immune avoidance microenvironment not compatible with an effective antitumor response in lethal metastatic disease. Our results demonstrate that the immune responses against cancer are not static, but rather follow dynamic processes that match cancer genomic progression, illustrating the complex nature of tumor and immune cell interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Blanco-Heredia
- IrsiCaixa, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain
- Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona, Spain
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Carla Anjos Souza
- IrsiCaixa, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain
- Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona, Spain
| | - Juan L Trincado
- Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain
- Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | | | - Sara Ruiz Gil
- Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Samandhy Cedeño
- IrsiCaixa, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain
| | - Maurizio Callari
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, Cambridge, UK
| | - Antonio Marra
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Andrea M Gazzo
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Britta Weigelt
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Fresia Pareja
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Theodore Vougiouklakis
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Achim A Jungbluth
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Rafael Rosell
- Dexeus Institute of Oncology, Quironsalud Group, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Christian Brander
- IrsiCaixa, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain
- ICREA, Passeig de Lluís Companys, 23, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya, Catalunya, Spain
| | | | - Jorge S Reis-Filho
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Daniel Guimarães Tiezzi
- Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics - Breast Disease Division and Laboratory for Translational Data Science, Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Brazil
- Advanced Research Center in Medicine (CEPAM), Union of the Colleges of the Great Lakes (UNILAGO), São José do Rio Preto, Brazil
| | | | - Holger Heyn
- Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG), Barcelona, Spain
- Omniscope, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Leticia De Mattos-Arruda
- IrsiCaixa, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Badalona, Spain.
- Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), Badalona, Spain.
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15
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Lakatos E, Gunasri V, Zapata L, Househam J, Heide T, Trahearn N, Swinyard O, Cisneros L, Lynn C, Mossner M, Kimberley C, Spiteri I, Cresswell GD, Llibre-Palomar G, Mitchison M, Maley CC, Jansen M, Rodriguez-Justo M, Bridgewater J, Baker AM, Sottoriva A, Graham TA. Epigenome and early selection determine the tumour-immune evolutionary trajectory of colorectal cancer. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.12.579956. [PMID: 38405882 PMCID: PMC10888923 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.12.579956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Immune system control is a major hurdle that cancer evolution must circumvent. The relative timing and evolutionary dynamics of subclones that have escaped immune control remain incompletely characterized, and how immune-mediated selection shapes the epigenome has received little attention. Here, we infer the genome- and epigenome-driven evolutionary dynamics of tumour-immune coevolution within primary colorectal cancers (CRCs). We utilise our existing CRC multi-region multi-omic dataset that we supplement with high-resolution spatially-resolved neoantigen sequencing data and highly multiplexed imaging of the tumour microenvironment (TME). Analysis of somatic chromatin accessibility alterations (SCAAs) reveals frequent somatic loss of accessibility at antigen presenting genes, and that SCAAs contribute to silencing of neoantigens. We observe that strong immune escape and exclusion occur at the outset of CRC formation, and that within tumours, including at the microscopic level of individual tumour glands, additional immune escape alterations have negligible consequences for the immunophenotype of cancer cells. Further minor immuno-editing occurs during local invasion and is associated with TME reorganisation, but that evolutionary bottleneck is relatively weak. Collectively, we show that immune evasion in CRC follows a "Big Bang" evolutionary pattern, whereby genetic, epigenetic and TME-driven immune evasion acquired by the time of transformation defines subsequent cancer-immune evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eszter Lakatos
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Vinaya Gunasri
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Luis Zapata
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Jacob Househam
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Timon Heide
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Nicholas Trahearn
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Ottilie Swinyard
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Luis Cisneros
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Claire Lynn
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Maximilian Mossner
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Chris Kimberley
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Inmaculada Spiteri
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - George D. Cresswell
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
| | - Gerard Llibre-Palomar
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Miriam Mitchison
- Histopathology Department, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Carlo C. Maley
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - Marnix Jansen
- UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK
| | | | | | - Ann-Marie Baker
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Andrea Sottoriva
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Computational Biology Research Centre, Human Technopole, Milan, Italy
| | - Trevor A. Graham
- Centre for Evolution and Cancer, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK
- Centre for Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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16
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Pounraj S, Chen S, Ma L, Mazzieri R, Dolcetti R, Rehm BHA. Targeting Tumor Heterogeneity with Neoantigen-Based Cancer Vaccines. Cancer Res 2024; 84:353-363. [PMID: 38055891 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-23-2042] [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] [Received: 07/10/2023] [Revised: 10/24/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Neoantigen-based cancer vaccines have emerged as a promising immunotherapeutic approach to treat cancer. Nevertheless, the high degree of heterogeneity in tumors poses a significant hurdle for developing a vaccine that targets the therapeutically relevant neoantigens capable of effectively stimulating an immune response as each tumor contains numerous unique putative neoantigens. Understanding the complexities of tumor heterogeneity is crucial for the development of personalized neoantigen-based vaccines, which hold the potential to revolutionize cancer treatment and improve patient outcomes. In this review, we discuss recent advancements in the design of neoantigen-based cancer vaccines emphasizing the identification, validation, formulation, and targeting of neoantigens while addressing the challenges posed by tumor heterogeneity. The review highlights the application of cutting-edge approaches, such as single-cell sequencing and artificial intelligence to identify immunogenic neoantigens, while outlining current limitations and proposing future research directions to develop effective neoantigen-based vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saranya Pounraj
- Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers (CCFB), Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University (Nathan Campus), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Shuxiong Chen
- Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers (CCFB), Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University (Nathan Campus), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Linlin Ma
- Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers (CCFB), Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University (Nathan Campus), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Environment and Science, Griffith University (Nathan Campus), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Roberta Mazzieri
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Riccardo Dolcetti
- Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Bernd H A Rehm
- Centre for Cell Factories and Biopolymers (CCFB), Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University (Nathan Campus), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Menzies Health Institute Queensland (MHIQ), Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus), Queensland, Australia
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17
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Dhanushkumar T, M E S, Selvam PK, Rambabu M, Dasegowda KR, Vasudevan K, George Priya Doss C. Advancements and hurdles in the development of a vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer: A comprehensive review of multi-omics and immunomics strategies. Life Sci 2024; 337:122360. [PMID: 38135117 DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2023.122360] [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: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) presents a significant challenge in oncology due to its aggressive behavior and limited therapeutic options. This review explores the potential of immunotherapy, particularly vaccine-based approaches, in addressing TNBC. It delves into the role of immunoinformatics in creating effective vaccines against TNBC. The review first underscores the distinct attributes of TNBC and the importance of tumor antigens in vaccine development. It then elaborates on antigen detection techniques such as exome sequencing, HLA typing, and RNA sequencing, which are instrumental in identifying TNBC-specific antigens and selecting vaccine candidates. The discussion then shifts to the in-silico vaccine development process, encompassing antigen selection, epitope prediction, and rational vaccine design. This process merges computational simulations with immunological insights. The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in expediting the prediction of antigens and epitopes is also emphasized. The review concludes by encapsulating how Immunoinformatics can augment the design of TNBC vaccines, integrating tumor antigens, advanced detection methods, in-silico strategies, and AI-driven insights to advance TNBC immunotherapy. This could potentially pave the way for more targeted and efficacious treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Dhanushkumar
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Santhosh M E
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Prasanna Kumar Selvam
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Majji Rambabu
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - K R Dasegowda
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India
| | - Karthick Vasudevan
- Department of Biotechnology, School of Applied Sciences, REVA University, Bengaluru 560064, India.
| | - C George Priya Doss
- Laboratory of Integrative Genomics, Department of Integrative Biology, School of BioSciences and Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, India.
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18
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Ricker CA, Meli K, Van Allen EM. Historical perspective and future directions: computational science in immuno-oncology. J Immunother Cancer 2024; 12:e008306. [PMID: 38191244 PMCID: PMC10826578 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-008306] [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] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Immuno-oncology holds promise for transforming patient care having achieved durable clinical response rates across a variety of advanced and metastatic cancers. Despite these achievements, only a minority of patients respond to immunotherapy, underscoring the importance of elucidating molecular mechanisms responsible for response and resistance to inform the development and selection of treatments. Breakthroughs in molecular sequencing technologies have led to the generation of an immense amount of genomic and transcriptomic sequencing data that can be mined to uncover complex tumor-immune interactions using computational tools. In this review, we discuss existing and emerging computational methods that contextualize the composition and functional state of the tumor microenvironment, infer the reactivity and clonal dynamics from reconstructed immune cell receptor repertoires, and predict the antigenic landscape for immune cell recognition. We further describe the advantage of multi-omics analyses for capturing multidimensional relationships and artificial intelligence techniques for integrating omics data with histopathological and radiological images to encapsulate patterns of treatment response and tumor-immune biology. Finally, we discuss key challenges impeding their widespread use and clinical application and conclude with future perspectives. We are hopeful that this review will both serve as a guide for prospective researchers seeking to use existing tools for scientific discoveries and inspire the optimization or development of novel tools to enhance precision, ultimately expediting advancements in immunotherapy that improve patient survival and quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cora A Ricker
- Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Kevin Meli
- Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
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19
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Shah RK, Cygan E, Kozlik T, Colina A, Zamora AE. Utilizing immunogenomic approaches to prioritize targetable neoantigens for personalized cancer immunotherapy. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1301100. [PMID: 38149253 PMCID: PMC10749952 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1301100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Advancements in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics algorithms have expanded our ability to identify tumor-specific somatic mutation-derived antigens (neoantigens). While recent studies have shown neoantigens to be compelling targets for cancer immunotherapy due to their foreign nature and high immunogenicity, the need for increasingly accurate and cost-effective approaches to rapidly identify neoantigens remains a challenging task, but essential for successful cancer immunotherapy. Currently, gene expression analysis and algorithms for variant calling can be used to generate lists of mutational profiles across patients, but more care is needed to curate these lists and prioritize the candidate neoantigens most capable of inducing an immune response. A growing amount of evidence suggests that only a handful of somatic mutations predicted by mutational profiling approaches act as immunogenic neoantigens. Hence, unbiased screening of all candidate neoantigens predicted by Whole Genome Sequencing/Whole Exome Sequencing may be necessary to more comprehensively access the full spectrum of immunogenic neoepitopes. Once putative cancer neoantigens are identified, one of the largest bottlenecks in translating these neoantigens into actionable targets for cell-based therapies is identifying the cognate T cell receptors (TCRs) capable of recognizing these neoantigens. While many TCR-directed screening and validation assays have utilized bulk samples in the past, there has been a recent surge in the number of single-cell assays that provide a more granular understanding of the factors governing TCR-pMHC interactions. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of existing strategies to identify candidate neoantigens using genomics-based approaches and methods for assessing neoantigen immunogenicity. Additionally, applications, prospects, and limitations of some of the current single-cell technologies will be discussed. Finally, we will briefly summarize some of the recent models that have been used to predict TCR antigen specificity and analyze the TCR receptor repertoire.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravi K. Shah
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Erin Cygan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Tanya Kozlik
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Alfredo Colina
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Anthony E. Zamora
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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20
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Pang Z, Lu MM, Zhang Y, Gao Y, Bai JJ, Gu JY, Xie L, Wu WZ. Neoantigen-targeted TCR-engineered T cell immunotherapy: current advances and challenges. Biomark Res 2023; 11:104. [PMID: 38037114 PMCID: PMC10690996 DOI: 10.1186/s40364-023-00534-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Adoptive cell therapy using T cell receptor-engineered T cells (TCR-T) is a promising approach for cancer therapy with an expectation of no significant side effects. In the human body, mature T cells are armed with an incredible diversity of T cell receptors (TCRs) that theoretically react to the variety of random mutations generated by tumor cells. The outcomes, however, of current clinical trials using TCR-T cell therapies are not very successful especially involving solid tumors. The therapy still faces numerous challenges in the efficient screening of tumor-specific antigens and their cognate TCRs. In this review, we first introduce TCR structure-based antigen recognition and signaling, then describe recent advances in neoantigens and their specific TCR screening technologies, and finally summarize ongoing clinical trials of TCR-T therapies against neoantigens. More importantly, we also present the current challenges of TCR-T cell-based immunotherapies, e.g., the safety of viral vectors, the mismatch of T cell receptor, the impediment of suppressive tumor microenvironment. Finally, we highlight new insights and directions for personalized TCR-T therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhi Pang
- Liver Cancer Institute, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Ministry of Education, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Clinical Center for Biotherapy, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Man-Man Lu
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Yu Zhang
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Yuan Gao
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, 200237, China
| | - Jin-Jin Bai
- Liver Cancer Institute, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Ministry of Education, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
- Clinical Center for Biotherapy, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Jian-Ying Gu
- Clinical Center for Biotherapy, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Lu Xie
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai, 200237, China.
| | - Wei-Zhong Wu
- Liver Cancer Institute, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Cancer Invasion, Ministry of Education, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
- Clinical Center for Biotherapy, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
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21
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Wang Y, Xu J, Lan T, Zhou C, Liu P. The loss of neoantigens is an important reason for immune escape in multiple myeloma patients with high intratumor heterogeneity. Cancer Med 2023; 12:21651-21665. [PMID: 37965778 PMCID: PMC10757111 DOI: 10.1002/cam4.6721] [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: 04/21/2023] [Revised: 07/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) is an important factor for clinical outcomes in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). High ITH has been proven to be a key reason for tumor immune escape and treatment resistance. Neoantigens are thought to be associated with ITH, but the specific correlation and functional basis for this remains unclear. METHODS We study this question through the whole-exome sequencing (WES) data from 43 high ITH newly diagnosed MM patients in our center. Mutant allele tumor heterogeneity (MATH) was conducted to quantify ITH. The cutoff value for high intratumor heterogeneity was determined by comparing MATH of different kinds of tumors. NeoPredPipe was performed to predict neoantigens and binding affinity. RESULTS Compared to other tumors, MM has a relatively low tumor mutation burden but a high ITH. Patients with high MATH had significantly shorter progression-free survival times than those with low MATH (p = 0.001). In high ITH samples, there is a decrease in strong-binding neoantigens (p = 0.019). The loss of strong-binding neoantigens is a key factor for insensitivity to therapy (p = 0.015). Loss of heterozygosity in HLA was not observed. In addition, patients with fewer neoantigens loss had higher rates of disease remission (p = 0.047). CD8 + T cells (p = 0.012) and NK cells (p = 0.011) decreased significantly in patients with high neoantigens loss rate. A prediction model based on neoantigens was built to evaluate the strength of immune escape. CONCLUSION The loss of strong-binding neoantigens explains why tumors with high ITH have a higher degree of immune escape and may be feasible for deciding the clinical treatment of MM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wang
- Department of Hematology, Zhongshan HospitalFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
| | - Jiadai Xu
- Department of Hematology, Zhongshan HospitalFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
| | - Tianwei Lan
- Department of Hematology, Zhongshan HospitalFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
| | - Chi Zhou
- Department of Hematology, Zhongshan HospitalFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
| | - Peng Liu
- Department of Hematology, Zhongshan HospitalFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
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22
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Song Y, Zhou J, Zhao X, Zhang Y, Xu X, Zhang D, Pang J, Bao H, Ji Y, Zhan M, Wang Y, Ou Q, Hu J. Lineage tracing for multiple lung cancer by spatiotemporal heterogeneity using a multi-omics analysis method integrating genomic, transcriptomic, and immune-related features. Front Oncol 2023; 13:1237308. [PMID: 37799479 PMCID: PMC10548834 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1237308] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The distinction between multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC) and intrapulmonary metastasis (IPM) holds clinical significance in staging, therapeutic intervention, and prognosis assessment for multiple lung cancer. Lineage tracing by clinicopathologic features alone remains a clinical challenge; thus, we aimed to develop a multi-omics analysis method delineating spatiotemporal heterogeneity based on tumor genomic profiling. Methods Between 2012 and 2022, 11 specimens were collected from two patients diagnosed with multiple lung cancer (LU1 and LU2) with synchronous/metachronous tumors. A novel multi-omics analysis method based on whole-exome sequencing, transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), and tumor neoantigen prediction was developed to define the lineage. Traditional clinicopathologic reviews and an imaging-based algorithm were performed to verify the results. Results Seven tissue biopsies were collected from LU1. The multi-omics analysis method demonstrated that three synchronous tumors observed in 2018 (LU1B/C/D) had strong molecular heterogeneity, various RNA expression and immune microenvironment characteristics, and unique neoantigens. These results suggested that LU1B, LU1C, and LU1D were MPLC, consistent with traditional lineage tracing approaches. The high mutational landscape similarity score (75.1%), similar RNA expression features, and considerable shared neoantigens (n = 241) revealed the IPM relationship between LU1F and LU1G which were two samples detected simultaneously in 2021. Although the multi-omics analysis method aligned with the imaging-based algorithm, pathology and clinicopathologic approaches suggested MPLC owing to different histological types of LU1F/G. Moreover, controversial lineage or misclassification of LU2's synchronous/metachronous samples (LU2B/D and LU2C/E) traced by traditional approaches might be corrected by the multi-omics analysis method. Spatiotemporal heterogeneity profiled by the multi-omics analysis method suggested that LU2D possibly had the same lineage as LU2B (similarity score, 12.9%; shared neoantigens, n = 71); gefitinib treatment and EGFR, TP53, and RB1 mutations suggested the possibility that LU2E might result from histology transformation of LU2C despite the lack of LU2C biopsy and its histology. By contrast, histological interpretation was indeterminate for LU2D, and LU2E was defined as a primary or progression lesion of LU2C by histological, clinicopathologic, or imaging-based approaches. Conclusion This novel multi-omics analysis method improves the accuracy of lineage tracing by tracking the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of serial samples. Further validation is required for its clinical application in accurate diagnosis, disease management, and improving prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yijun Song
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiebai Zhou
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaotian Zhao
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Nanjing Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, China
| | - Yong Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaobo Xu
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Donghui Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Geriatric Center, Shanghai, China
| | - Jiaohui Pang
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Nanjing Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, China
| | - Hairong Bao
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Nanjing Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, China
| | - Yuan Ji
- Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mengna Zhan
- Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yulin Wang
- Department of Pathology, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qiuxiang Ou
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Nanjing Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, China
| | - Jie Hu
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Geriatric Center, Shanghai, China
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23
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Bravi B, Di Gioacchino A, Fernandez-de-Cossio-Diaz J, Walczak AM, Mora T, Cocco S, Monasson R. A transfer-learning approach to predict antigen immunogenicity and T-cell receptor specificity. eLife 2023; 12:e85126. [PMID: 37681658 PMCID: PMC10522340 DOI: 10.7554/elife.85126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Antigen immunogenicity and the specificity of binding of T-cell receptors to antigens are key properties underlying effective immune responses. Here we propose diffRBM, an approach based on transfer learning and Restricted Boltzmann Machines, to build sequence-based predictive models of these properties. DiffRBM is designed to learn the distinctive patterns in amino-acid composition that, on the one hand, underlie the antigen's probability of triggering a response, and on the other hand the T-cell receptor's ability to bind to a given antigen. We show that the patterns learnt by diffRBM allow us to predict putative contact sites of the antigen-receptor complex. We also discriminate immunogenic and non-immunogenic antigens, antigen-specific and generic receptors, reaching performances that compare favorably to existing sequence-based predictors of antigen immunogenicity and T-cell receptor specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Bravi
- Department of Mathematics, Imperial College LondonLondonUnited Kingdom
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Andrea Di Gioacchino
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Jorge Fernandez-de-Cossio-Diaz
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Aleksandra M Walczak
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Thierry Mora
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Simona Cocco
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
| | - Rémi Monasson
- Laboratoire de Physique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris-CitéParisFrance
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24
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Deng JY, Gou Q, Yang L, Chen ZH, Yang MY, Yang XR, Yan HH, Wei XW, Liu JQ, Su J, Zhong WZ, Xu CR, Wu YL, Zhou Q. Immune suppressive microenvironment in liver metastases contributes to organ-specific response of immunotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. J Immunother Cancer 2023; 11:e007218. [PMID: 37463790 PMCID: PMC10357800 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-007218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The liver is a frequent site of metastases and liver metastases (LM) correlate with diminished immunotherapy efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to analyze whether tumor response to immunotherapy differs between pulmonary lesions (PL) and LM in NSCLC and to explore potential mechanisms through multiomics analysis. METHODS This observational longitudinal clinical cohort study included patients with NSCLC with LM receiving immunotherapy was conducted to evaluate organ-specific tumor response of PL and LM. We collected paired PL and LM tumor samples to analyze the organ-specific difference using whole-exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and multiplex immunohistochemistry. RESULTS A total of 52 patients with NSCLC with LM were enrolled to evaluate the organ-specific response of immunotherapy. The objective response rate (21.1% vs 32.7%) and disease control rate of LM were lower than that of PL (67.3% vs 86.5%). One-third of patients showed mixed response, among whom 88.2% (15/17) presented with LM increasing, but PL decreasing, while the others had the opposite pattern (p=0.002). In another independent cohort, 27 pairs of matched PL and LM tumor samples from the same individuals, including six simultaneously collected pairs, were included in the translational part. Genomic landscapes profiling revealed similar somatic mutations, tumor mutational burden, and neoantigen number between PL and LM. Bulk-RNA sequencing showed immune activation-related genes including CD8A, LCK, and ICOS were downregulated in LM. The antigen processing and presentation, natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity and T-cell receptor signaling pathway were enriched in PL compared with LM. Multiplex immunohistochemistry detected significantly lower fractions of CD8+ cells (p=0.036) and CD56dim+ cells (p=0.016) in LM compared with PL. Single-cell RNA sequencing also characterized lower effector CD8+ T cells activation and NK cells cytotoxicity in LM. CONCLUSIONS Compared with PL, LM presents an inferior organ-specific tumor response to immunotherapy. PL and LM showed limited heterogeneity in the genomic landscape, while the LM tumor microenvironment displayed lower levels of immune activation and infiltration than PL, which might contribute to developing precise immunotherapy strategies for patients with NSCLC with LM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Yi Deng
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qing Gou
- Department of Interventional Radiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lingling Yang
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Nanjing Geneseeq Technology Inc, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhi-Hong Chen
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ming-Yi Yang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xiao-Rong Yang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Hong-Hong Yan
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xue-Wu Wei
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jia-Qi Liu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jian Su
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wen-Zhao Zhong
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chong-Rui Xu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yi-Long Wu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qing Zhou
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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25
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Luo R, Chyr J, Wen J, Wang Y, Zhao W, Zhou X. A novel integrated approach to predicting cancer immunotherapy efficacy. Oncogene 2023; 42:1913-1925. [PMID: 37100920 PMCID: PMC10244162 DOI: 10.1038/s41388-023-02670-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
Immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment modalities; however, predicting clinical response accurately and reliably remains challenging. Neoantigen load is considered as a fundamental genetic determinant of therapeutic response. However, only a few predicted neoantigens are highly immunogenic, with little focus on intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) in the neoantigen landscape and its link with different features in the tumor microenvironment. To address this issue, we comprehensively characterized neoantigens arising from nonsynonymous mutations and gene fusions in lung cancer and melanoma. We developed a composite NEO2IS to characterize interplays between cancer and CD8+ T-cell populations. NEO2IS improved prediction accuracy of patient responses to immune-checkpoint blockades (ICBs). We found that TCR repertoire diversity was consistent with the neoantigen heterogeneity under evolutionary selections. Our defined neoantigen ITH score (NEOITHS) reflected infiltration degree of CD8+ T lymphocytes with different differentiation states and manifested the impact of negative selection pressure on CD8+ T-cell lineage heterogeneity or tumor ecosystem plasticity. We classified tumors into distinct immune subtypes and examined how neoantigen-T cells interactions affected disease progression and treatment response. Overall, our integrated framework helps profile neoantigen patterns that elicit T-cell immunoreactivity, enhance the understanding of evolving tumor-immune interplays and improve prediction of ICBs efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruihan Luo
- West China Biomedical Big Data Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Med-X Center for Informatics, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Jacqueline Chyr
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jianguo Wen
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Yanfei Wang
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Weiling Zhao
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Xiaobo Zhou
- Center for Computational Systems Medicine, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
- McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
- School of Dentistry, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
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26
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Tippalagama R, Chihab LY, Kearns K, Lewis S, Panda S, Willemsen L, Burel JG, Lindestam Arlehamn CS. Antigen-specificity measurements are the key to understanding T cell responses. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1127470. [PMID: 37122719 PMCID: PMC10140422 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1127470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 05/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Antigen-specific T cells play a central role in the adaptive immune response and come in a wide range of phenotypes. T cell receptors (TCRs) mediate the antigen-specificities found in T cells. Importantly, high-throughput TCR sequencing provides a fingerprint which allows tracking of specific T cells and their clonal expansion in response to particular antigens. As a result, many studies have leveraged TCR sequencing in an attempt to elucidate the role of antigen-specific T cells in various contexts. Here, we discuss the published approaches to studying antigen-specific T cells and their specific TCR repertoire. Further, we discuss how these methods have been applied to study the TCR repertoire in various diseases in order to characterize the antigen-specific T cells involved in the immune control of disease.
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27
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Tan X, Xu L, Jian X, Ouyang J, Hu B, Yang X, Wang T, Xie L. PGNneo: A Proteogenomics-Based Neoantigen Prediction Pipeline in Noncoding Regions. Cells 2023; 12:cells12050782. [PMID: 36899918 PMCID: PMC10000440 DOI: 10.3390/cells12050782] [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: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The development of a neoantigen-based personalized vaccine has promise in the hunt for cancer immunotherapy. The challenge in neoantigen vaccine design is the need to rapidly and accurately identify, in patients, those neoantigens with vaccine potential. Evidence shows that neoantigens can be derived from noncoding sequences, but there are few specific tools for identifying neoantigens in noncoding regions. In this work, we describe a proteogenomics-based pipeline, namely PGNneo, for use in discovering neoantigens derived from the noncoding region of the human genome with reliability. In PGNneo, four modules are included: (1) noncoding somatic variant calling and HLA typing; (2) peptide extraction and customized database construction; (3) variant peptide identification; (4) neoantigen prediction and selection. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of PGNneo and applied and validated our methodology in two real-world hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cohorts. TP53, WWP1, ATM, KMT2C, and NFE2L2, which are frequently mutating genes associated with HCC, were identified in two cohorts and corresponded to 107 neoantigens from non-coding regions. In addition, we applied PGNneo to a colorectal cancer (CRC) cohort, demonstrating that the tool can be extended and verified in other tumor types. In summary, PGNneo can specifically detect neoantigens generated by noncoding regions in tumors, providing additional immune targets for cancer types with a low tumor mutational burden (TMB) in coding regions. PGNneo, together with our previous tool, can identify coding and noncoding region-derived neoantigens and, thus, will contribute to a complete understanding of the tumor immune target landscape. PGNneo source code and documentation are available at Github. To facilitate the installation and use of PGNneo, we provide a Docker container and a GUI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiu Tan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics & Institute of Genome and Bioinformatics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Linfeng Xu
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics & Institute of Genome and Bioinformatics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Xingxing Jian
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics & Institute of Genome and Bioinformatics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Jian Ouyang
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics & Institute of Genome and Bioinformatics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai 200237, China
| | - Bo Hu
- Liver Cancer Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Xinrong Yang
- Liver Cancer Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China
| | - Tao Wang
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
- Correspondence: (T.W.); (L.X.)
| | - Lu Xie
- Shanghai-MOST Key Laboratory of Health and Disease Genomics & Institute of Genome and Bioinformatics, Shanghai Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Technologies, Shanghai 200237, China
- Correspondence: (T.W.); (L.X.)
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28
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Routh ED, Woodcock MG, Beckabir W, Vensko SP, Serody JS, Vincent BG. Evaluation of tumor antigen-specific antibody responses in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer treated with cyclophosphamide and pembrolizumab. J Immunother Cancer 2023; 11:jitc-2022-005848. [PMID: 36882226 PMCID: PMC10008414 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2022-005848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2023] Open
Abstract
The role of B cells in antitumor immunity is becoming increasingly appreciated, as B cell populations have been associated with response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in patients with breast cancer and murine models of breast cancer. Deeper understanding of antibody responses to tumor antigens is needed to clarify the function of B cells in determining response to immunotherapy. We evaluated tumor antigen-specific antibody responses in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer treated with pembrolizumab following low-dose cyclophosphamide therapy using computational linear epitope prediction and custom peptide microarrays. We found that a minority of predicted linear epitopes were associated with antibody signal, and signal was associated with both neoepitopes and self-peptides. No association was observed between signal presence and subcellular localization or RNA expression of parent proteins. Patient-specific patterns of antibody signal boostability were observed that were independent of clinical response. Intriguingly, measures of cumulative antibody signal intensity relative to immunotherapy treatment showed that the one complete responder in the trial had the greatest increase in total antibody signal, which supports a potential association between ICB-dependent antibody boosting and clinical response. The antibody boost in the complete responder was largely driven by increased levels of IgG specific to a sequence of N-terminal residues in native Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Pathway Substrate 8 (EPS8) protein, a known oncogene in several cancer types including breast cancer. Structural protein prediction showed that the targeted epitope of EPS8 was in a region of the protein with mixed linear/helical structure, and that this region was solvent-exposed and not predicted to bind to interacting macromolecules. This study highlights the potential importance of the humoral immune response targeting neoepitopes as well as self epitopes in shaping clinical response to immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric D Routh
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Mark G Woodcock
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Division of Medical Oncology, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Wolfgang Beckabir
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Steven P Vensko
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Jonathan S Serody
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
| | - Benjamin G Vincent
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA .,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Division of Hematology, Department of Medicine, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.,Computational Medicine Program, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
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29
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Dhanda SK, Mahajan S, Manoharan M. Neoepitopes prediction strategies: an integration of cancer genomics and immunoinformatics approaches. Brief Funct Genomics 2023; 22:1-8. [PMID: 36398967 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/elac041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 09/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A major near-term medical impact of the genomic technology revolution will be the elucidation of mechanisms of cancer pathogenesis, leading to improvements in the diagnosis of cancer and the selection of cancer treatment. Next-generation sequencing technologies have accelerated the characterization of a tumor, leading to the comprehensive discovery of all the major alterations in a given cancer genome, followed by the translation of this information using computational and immunoinformatics approaches to cancer diagnostics and therapeutic efforts. In the current article, we review various components of cancer immunoinformatics applied to a series of fields of cancer research, including computational tools for cancer mutation detection, cancer mutation and immunological databases, and computational vaccinology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep Kumar Dhanda
- Department of Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Swapnil Mahajan
- DeepKnomics Labs Private Limited, 7014 Prestige Garden Bay, IVRI Road, Avalahalli, Behind CRPF Campus, Yelahanka, Bangalore 560064, India
| | - Malini Manoharan
- DeepKnomics Labs Private Limited, 7014 Prestige Garden Bay, IVRI Road, Avalahalli, Behind CRPF Campus, Yelahanka, Bangalore 560064, India
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30
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Cai Y, Chen R, Gao S, Li W, Liu Y, Su G, Song M, Jiang M, Jiang C, Zhang X. Artificial intelligence applied in neoantigen identification facilitates personalized cancer immunotherapy. Front Oncol 2023; 12:1054231. [PMID: 36698417 PMCID: PMC9868469 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1054231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Accepted: 12/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The field of cancer neoantigen investigation has developed swiftly in the past decade. Predicting novel and true neoantigens derived from large multi-omics data became difficult but critical challenges. The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) in biomedicine application has brought benefits to strengthen the current computational pipeline for neoantigen prediction. ML algorithms offer powerful tools to recognize the multidimensional nature of the omics data and therefore extract the key neoantigen features enabling a successful discovery of new neoantigens. The present review aims to outline the significant technology progress of machine learning approaches, especially the newly deep learning tools and pipelines, that were recently applied in neoantigen prediction. In this review article, we summarize the current state-of-the-art tools developed to predict neoantigens. The standard workflow includes calling genetic variants in paired tumor and blood samples, and rating the binding affinity between mutated peptide, MHC (I and II) and T cell receptor (TCR), followed by characterizing the immunogenicity of tumor epitopes. More specifically, we highlight the outstanding feature extraction tools and multi-layer neural network architectures in typical ML models. It is noted that more integrated neoantigen-predicting pipelines are constructed with hybrid or combined ML algorithms instead of conventional machine learning models. In addition, the trends and challenges in further optimizing and integrating the existing pipelines are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Cai
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Rui Chen
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Shenghan Gao
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Wenqing Li
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Yuru Liu
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Guodong Su
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Mingming Song
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Mengju Jiang
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
| | - Chao Jiang
- Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Medical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,*Correspondence: Chao Jiang, ; Xi Zhang,
| | - Xi Zhang
- School of Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China,*Correspondence: Chao Jiang, ; Xi Zhang,
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31
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Lybaert L, Lefever S, Fant B, Smits E, De Geest B, Breckpot K, Dirix L, Feldman SA, van Criekinge W, Thielemans K, van der Burg SH, Ott PA, Bogaert C. Challenges in neoantigen-directed therapeutics. Cancer Cell 2023; 41:15-40. [PMID: 36368320 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2022.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 31.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
A fundamental prerequisite for the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy is the presence of functional, antigen-specific T cells within the tumor. Neoantigen-directed therapy is a promising strategy that aims at targeting the host's immune response against tumor-specific antigens, thereby eradicating cancer cells. Initial forays have been made in clinical environments utilizing vaccines and adoptive cell therapy; however, many challenges lie ahead. We provide an in-depth overview of the current state of the field with an emphasis on in silico neoantigen discovery and the clinical aspects that need to be addressed to unlock the full potential of this therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Evelien Smits
- Center for Oncological Research, University of Antwerp, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Bruno De Geest
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Karine Breckpot
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Therapy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Luc Dirix
- Translational Cancer Research Unit, Center for Oncological Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Steven A Feldman
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Wim van Criekinge
- Department of Data Analysis and Mathematical Modelling, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kris Thielemans
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Therapy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sjoerd H van der Burg
- Medical Oncology, Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Patrick A Ott
- Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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32
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Diao K, Chen J, Wu T, Wang X, Wang G, Sun X, Zhao X, Wu C, Wang J, Yao H, Gerarduzzi C, Liu XS. Seq2Neo: A Comprehensive Pipeline for Cancer Neoantigen Immunogenicity Prediction. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms231911624. [PMID: 36232923 PMCID: PMC9569519 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231911624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 09/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Neoantigens derived from somatic DNA alterations are ideal cancer-specific targets. In recent years, the combination therapy of PD-1/PD-L1 blockers and neoantigen vaccines has shown clinical efficacy in original PD-1/PD-L1 blocker non-responders. However, not all somatic DNA mutations result in immunogenicity among cancer cells and efficient tools to predict the immunogenicity of neoepitopes are still urgently needed. Here, we present the Seq2Neo pipeline, which provides a one-stop solution for neoepitope feature prediction using raw sequencing data. Neoantigens derived from different types of genome DNA alterations, including point mutations, insertion deletions and gene fusions, are all supported. Importantly, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model was trained to predict the immunogenicity of neoepitopes and this model showed an improved performance compared to the currently available tools in immunogenicity prediction using independent datasets. We anticipate that the Seq2Neo pipeline could become a useful tool in the prediction of neoantigen immunogenicity and cancer immunotherapy. Seq2Neo is open-source software under an academic free license (AFL) v3.0 and is freely available at Github.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaixuan Diao
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
- Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jing Chen
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
- Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Tao Wu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Xuan Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Guangshuai Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Xiaoqin Sun
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Xiangyu Zhao
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Chenxu Wu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Jinyu Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Huizi Yao
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
| | - Casimiro Gerarduzzi
- Département de Médecine, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC H4T 1G2, Canada
| | - Xue-Song Liu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai 201203, China
- Correspondence:
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33
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Zhang C, Chen HF, Yan S, Wu L, Yan LX, Yan XL, Yue DS, Xu CW, Zheng M, Li JS, Liu SY, Yang LL, Jiang BY, Ou QX, Qiu ZB, Shao Y, Wu YL, Zhong WZ. Induction immune-checkpoint inhibitors for resectable oncogene-mutant NSCLC: A multicenter pooled analysis. NPJ Precis Oncol 2022; 6:66. [PMID: 36123526 PMCID: PMC9485257 DOI: 10.1038/s41698-022-00301-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite limited efficacy of immunotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with driver mutations, whether neoadjuvant immunotherapy could be clinically valuable in those patients warrants further investigation. We utilized 40 oncogene-mutant NSCLC treated with induction immunotherapy from a large consecutive multicenter cohort. Overall response rate was 62.5% while 2 patients had disease progression. Of 39 patients that received surgery, R0 resection rate was 97.4%. The major pathological response (MPR) rate was 37.5% and the pathological complete response (pCR) rate was 12.5%. Pre-treatment PD-L1 expression was not a predictive biomarker in these patients. Median disease-free survival for all oncogenic mutation and EGFR mutation was 28.5 months. Indirect comparison through integrating CTONG1103 cohort showed neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemotherapy yielded the most superior efficacy among erlotinib and chemotherapy for resectable EGFR-mutant NSCLC. No MPR patients were identified with neoadjuvant immunotherapy plus chemotherapy for uncommon EGFR insertion or point mutations. Our results indicated the potential clinical feasibility of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for resectable localized oncogene-mutant NSCLC especially for EGFR-mutant NSCLC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Zhang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China.,School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Hua-Fei Chen
- Department of Thoracic Disease Center, Zhejiang RongJun Hospital, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, 314000, China
| | - Shi Yan
- Department of Thoracic Surgery II, Peking University Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing, 100142, China
| | - Lin Wu
- Department of Oncology, Hu Nan Provincial Tumor Hospital, Changsha, 410006, China
| | - Li-Xu Yan
- Department of Pathology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Xiao-Long Yan
- Division of Thoracic Surgery, Tang Du Hospital of Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, Shanxi, 710032, China
| | - Dong-Sheng Yue
- Department of Lung Cancer, Tianjin Lung Cancer Center, Tianjin Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, Hexi, Tianjin, 300060, China
| | - Chun-Wei Xu
- Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, 305 Zhongshan Road, Nanjing, 210002, China
| | - Min Zheng
- Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, 541001, China
| | - Ji-Sheng Li
- Department of Chemotherapy, Cancer Center, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, China
| | - Si-Yang Liu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Ling-Ling Yang
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, 210032, China
| | - Ben-Yuan Jiang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Qiu-Xiang Ou
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, 210032, China
| | - Zhen-Bin Qiu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Yang Shao
- Geneseeq Research Institute, Geneseeq Technology Inc., Nanjing, 210032, China
| | - Yi-Long Wu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China
| | - Wen-Zhao Zhong
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital & Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou, 510080, China.
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Bose D, Roy L, Chatterjee S. Peptide therapeutics in the management of metastatic cancers. RSC Adv 2022; 12:21353-21373. [PMID: 35975072 PMCID: PMC9345020 DOI: 10.1039/d2ra02062a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer remains a leading health concern threatening lives of millions of patients worldwide. Peptide-based drugs provide a valuable alternative to chemotherapeutics as they are highly specific, cheap, less toxic and easier to synthesize compared to other drugs. In this review, we have discussed various modes in which peptides are being used to curb cancer. Our review highlights specially the various anti-metastatic peptide-based agents developed by targeting a plethora of cellular factors. Herein we have given a special focus on integrins as targets for peptide drugs, as these molecules play key roles in metastatic progression. The review also discusses use of peptides as anti-cancer vaccines and their efficiency as drug-delivery tools. We hope this work will give the reader a clear idea of the mechanisms of peptide-based anti-cancer therapeutics and encourage the development of superior drugs in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debopriya Bose
- Department of Biophysics Bose Institute Unified Academic Campus EN 80, Sector V, Bidhan Nagar Kolkata 700091 WB India
| | - Laboni Roy
- Department of Biophysics Bose Institute Unified Academic Campus EN 80, Sector V, Bidhan Nagar Kolkata 700091 WB India
| | - Subhrangsu Chatterjee
- Department of Biophysics Bose Institute Unified Academic Campus EN 80, Sector V, Bidhan Nagar Kolkata 700091 WB India
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Neoantigens in precision cancer immunotherapy: from identification to clinical applications. Chin Med J (Engl) 2022; 135:1285-1298. [PMID: 35838545 PMCID: PMC9433083 DOI: 10.1097/cm9.0000000000002181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunotherapies targeting cancer neoantigens are safe, effective, and precise. Neoantigens can be identified mainly by genomic techniques such as next-generation sequencing and high-throughput single-cell sequencing; proteomic techniques such as mass spectrometry; and bioinformatics tools based on high-throughput sequencing data, mass spectrometry data, and biological databases. Neoantigen-related therapies are widely used in clinical practice and include neoantigen vaccines, neoantigen-specific CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, and neoantigen-pulsed dendritic cells. In addition, neoantigens can be used as biomarkers to assess immunotherapy response, resistance, and prognosis. Therapies based on neoantigens are an important and promising branch of cancer immunotherapy. Unremitting efforts are needed to unravel the comprehensive role of neoantigens in anti-tumor immunity and to extend their clinical application. This review aimed to summarize the progress in neoantigen research and to discuss its opportunities and challenges in precision cancer immunotherapy.
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Giner-Calabuig M, De Leon S, Wang J, Fehlmann TD, Ukaegbu C, Gibson J, Alustiza-Fernandez M, Pico MD, Alenda C, Herraiz M, Carrillo-Palau M, Salces I, Reyes J, Ortega SP, Obrador-Hevia A, Cecchini M, Syngal S, Stoffel E, Ellis NA, Sweasy J, Jover R, Llor X, Xicola RM. Mutational signature profiling classifies subtypes of clinically different mismatch-repair-deficient tumours with a differential immunogenic response potential. Br J Cancer 2022; 126:1595-1603. [PMID: 35197584 PMCID: PMC9130322 DOI: 10.1038/s41416-022-01754-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Revised: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency is the hallmark of tumours from Lynch syndrome (LS), sporadic MLH1 hypermethylated and Lynch-like syndrome (LLS), but there is a lack of understanding of the variability in their mutational profiles based on clinical phenotypes. The aim of this study was to perform a molecular characterisation to identify novel features that can impact tumour behaviour and clinical management. METHODS We tested 105 MMR-deficient colorectal cancer tumours (25 LS, 35 LLS and 45 sporadic) for global exome microsatellite instability, cancer mutational signatures, mutational spectrum and neoepitope load. RESULTS Fifty-three percent of tumours showed high contribution of MMR-deficient mutational signatures, high level of global exome microsatellite instability, loss of MLH1/PMS2 protein expression and included sporadic tumours. Thirty-one percent of tumours showed weaker features of MMR deficiency, 62% lost MSH2/MSH6 expression and included 60% of LS and 44% of LLS tumours. Remarkably, 9% of all tumours lacked global exome microsatellite instability. Lastly, HLA-B07:02 could be triggering the neoantigen presentation in tumours that show the strongest contribution of MMR-deficient tumours. CONCLUSIONS Next-generation sequencing approaches allow for a granular molecular characterisation of MMR-deficient tumours, which can be essential to properly diagnose and treat patients with these tumours in the setting of personalised medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mar Giner-Calabuig
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain
| | - Seila De Leon
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Julian Wang
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Tara D Fehlmann
- Divisions of Cancer Genetics and Population Sciences, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Chinedu Ukaegbu
- Divisions of Cancer Genetics and Population Sciences, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joanna Gibson
- Department of Pathology and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Miren Alustiza-Fernandez
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain
| | - Maria-Dolores Pico
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain
| | - Cristina Alenda
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain
| | - Maite Herraiz
- Departamento de Digestivo, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Navarra, Spain
| | - Marta Carrillo-Palau
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain
| | - Inmaculada Salces
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain
| | - Josep Reyes
- Servei de Digestiu, Hospital Comarcal d'Inca, Mallorca, Spain
| | - Silvia P Ortega
- Servei de Digestiu, Hospital Comarcal d'Inca, Mallorca, Spain
| | | | - Michael Cecchini
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Sapna Syngal
- Divisions of Cancer Genetics and Population Sciences, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elena Stoffel
- Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Nathan A Ellis
- Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Arizona Cancer Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | - Joann Sweasy
- Department of Therapeutic Radiobiology and Cancer Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Rodrigo Jover
- Servicio de Medicina Digestiva, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria ISABIAL, Alicante, Spain
| | - Xavier Llor
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Rosa M Xicola
- Department of Medicine and Cancer Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
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Wu T, Wang G, Wang X, Wang S, Zhao X, Wu C, Ning W, Tao Z, Chen F, Liu XS. Quantification of neoantigen-mediated immunoediting in cancer evolution. Cancer Res 2022; 82:2226-2238. [PMID: 35486454 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-21-3717] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 01/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Immunoediting includes three temporally distinct stages, termed elimination, equilibrium, and escape, and has been proposed to explain the interactions between cancer cells and the immune system during the evolution of cancer. However, the status of immunoediting in cancer remains unclear, and the existence of neoantigen depletion in untreated cancer has been debated. Here we developed a distribution pattern-based method for quantifying neoantigen-mediated negative selection in cancer evolution. The method can provide a robust and reliable quantification for immunoediting signal in individual cancer patients. Moreover, this method demonstrated the prevalence of immunoediting in immunotherapy-naive cancer genome. The elimination and escape stages of immunoediting can be quantified separately, where tumor types with strong immunoediting-elimination exhibit a weak immunoediting-escape signal, and vice versa. The quantified immunoediting-elimination signal was predictive of clinical response to cancer immunotherapy. Collectively, immunoediting quantification provides an evolutionary perspective for evaluating the antigenicity of neoantigens and reveals a potential biomarker for precision immunotherapy in cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Wu
- ShanghaiTech University, shanghai, China
| | | | - Xuan Wang
- ShanghaiTech University, shanghai, China
| | | | | | - Chenxu Wu
- ShanghaiTech University, shanghai, China
| | - Wei Ning
- ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ziyu Tao
- ShanghaiTech University, shanghai, China
| | - Fuxiang Chen
- NO.9 People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China
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Comprehensive profiling of 1015 patients' exomes reveals genomic-clinical associations in colorectal cancer. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2342. [PMID: 35487942 PMCID: PMC9055073 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30062-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The genetic basis of colorectal cancer (CRC) and its clinical associations remain poorly understood due to limited samples or targeted genes in current studies. Here, we perform ultradeep whole-exome sequencing on 1015 patients with CRC as part of the ChangKang Project. We identify 46 high-confident significantly mutated genes, 8 of which mutate in 14.9% of patients: LYST, DAPK1, CR2, KIF16B, NPIPB15, SYTL2, ZNF91, and KIAA0586. With an unsupervised clustering algorithm, we propose a subtyping strategy that classisfies CRC patients into four genomic subtypes with distinct clinical characteristics, including hypermutated, chromosome instability with high risk, chromosome instability with low risk, and genome stability. Analysis of immunogenicity uncover the association of immunogenicity reduction with genomic subtypes and poor prognosis in CRC. Moreover, we find that mitochondrial DNA copy number is an independent factor for predicting the survival outcome of CRCs. Overall, our results provide CRC-related molecular features for clinical practice and a valuable resource for translational research.
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Therapeutic Vaccines Targeting Neoantigens to Induce T-Cell Immunity against Cancers. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:pharmaceutics14040867. [PMID: 35456701 PMCID: PMC9029780 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14040867] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Cancer immunotherapy has achieved multiple clinical benefits and has become an indispensable component of cancer treatment. Targeting tumor-specific antigens, also known as neoantigens, plays a crucial role in cancer immunotherapy. T cells of adaptive immunity that recognize neoantigens, but do not induce unwanted off-target effects, have demonstrated high efficacy and low side effects in cancer immunotherapy. Tumor neoantigens derived from accumulated genetic instability can be characterized using emerging technologies, such as high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, predictive algorithms, mass-spectrometry analyses, and immunogenicity validation. Neoepitopes with a higher affinity for major histocompatibility complexes can be identified and further applied to the field of cancer vaccines. Therapeutic vaccines composed of tumor lysates or cells and DNA, mRNA, or peptides of neoantigens have revoked adaptive immunity to kill cancer cells in clinical trials. Broad clinical applicability of these therapeutic cancer vaccines has emerged. In this review, we discuss recent progress in neoantigen identification and applications for cancer vaccines and the results of ongoing trials.
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Wu T, Wu C, Zhao X, Wang G, Ning W, Tao Z, Chen F, Liu XS. Extrachromosomal DNA formation enables tumor immune escape potentially through regulating antigen presentation gene expression. Sci Rep 2022; 12:3590. [PMID: 35246593 PMCID: PMC8897507 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07530-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is a type of circular and tumor specific genetic element. EcDNA has been reported to display open chromatin structure, facilitate oncogene amplification and genetic material unequal segregation, and is associated with poor cancer patients' prognosis. The ability of immune evasion is a typical feature for cancer progression, however the tumor intrinsic factors that determine immune evasion remain poorly understood. Here we show that the presence of ecDNA is associated with markers of tumor immune evasion, and obtaining ecDNA could be one of the mechanisms employed by tumor cells to escape immune surveillance. Tumors with ecDNA usually have comparable TMB and neoantigen load, however they have lower immune cell infiltration and lower cytotoxic T cell activity. The microenvironment of tumors with ecDNA shows increased immune-depleted, decreased immune-enriched fibrotic types. Both MHC class I and class II antigen presentation genes' expression are decreased in tumors with ecDNA, and this could be the underlying mechanism for ecDNA associated immune evasion. This study provides evidence that ecDNA formation is an immune escape mechanism for cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tao Wu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
- Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Chenxu Wu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
- Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiangyu Zhao
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
| | - Guangshuai Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
| | - Wei Ning
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
| | - Ziyu Tao
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China
| | - Fuxiang Chen
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200011, People's Republic of China
| | - Xue-Song Liu
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China.
- School of Life Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, 230 Haike Road, Shanghai, 201210, People's Republic of China.
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Lim AH, Chan JY, Yu MC, Wu TH, Hong JH, Ng CCY, Low ZJ, Liu W, Vikneswari R, Sung PC, Fan WL, Teh BT, Hsieh SY. Rare Occurrence of Aristolochic Acid Mutational Signatures in Oro-Gastrointestinal Tract Cancers. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:cancers14030576. [PMID: 35158844 PMCID: PMC8833562 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14030576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2021] [Revised: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Aristolochic acids (AAs) are potent mutagens commonly found in herbal plant-based remedies widely used throughout Asian countries. PATIENTS AND METHODS To understand whether AA is involved in the tumorigenesis of the oro-gastrointestinal tract, we used whole-exome sequencing to profile 54 cases of four distinct types of oro-gastrointestinal tract cancer (OGITC) from Taiwan. RESULTS A diverse landscape of mutational signatures including those from DNA mismatch repair and reactive oxygen species was observed. APOBEC mutational signatures were observed in 60% of oral squamous cell carcinomas. Only one sample harbored AA mutational signatures, contradictory to prior reports of cancers from Taiwan. The metabolism of AA in the liver and urinary tract, transient exposure time, and high cell turnover rates at OGITC sites may explain our findings. CONCLUSION AA signatures in OGITCs are rare and unlikely to be a major contributing factor in oro-gastrointestinal tract tumorigenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abner Herbert Lim
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Jason Yongsheng Chan
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Division of Medical Oncology, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Ming-Chin Yu
- Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; (M.-C.Y.); (T.-H.W.)
- Department of Surgery, New Taipei Municipal Tucheng Hospital, New Taipei City 236, Taiwan
- College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
| | - Tsung-Han Wu
- Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan; (M.-C.Y.); (T.-H.W.)
| | - Jing Han Hong
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
- Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore
| | - Cedric Chuan Young Ng
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Zhen Jie Low
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
| | - Wei Liu
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Rajasegaran Vikneswari
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
| | - Pin-Cheng Sung
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan;
| | - Wen-Lang Fan
- Genomic Medicine Core Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan;
| | - Bin Tean Teh
- Cheng Kin Ku Herbal Biodiversity & Medicine Program, SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (A.H.L.); (J.H.H.); (C.C.Y.N.); (Z.J.L.); (W.L.)
- Cancer Discovery Hub, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore; (J.Y.C.); (R.V.)
- Laboratory of Cancer Epigenome, National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore 169610, Singapore
- Oncology Academic Clinical Program, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore 169857, Singapore
- Correspondence: (B.T.T.); or (S.-Y.H.); Tel.: +65-6436-8000 (B.T.T.); +886-975368031 (S.-Y.H.)
| | - Sen-Yung Hsieh
- College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan;
- Correspondence: (B.T.T.); or (S.-Y.H.); Tel.: +65-6436-8000 (B.T.T.); +886-975368031 (S.-Y.H.)
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Tsai YS, Woodcock MG, Azam SH, Thorne LB, Kanchi KL, Parker JS, Vincent BG, Pecot CV. Rapid idiosyncratic mechanisms of clinical resistance to KRAS G12C inhibition. J Clin Invest 2022; 132:155523. [PMID: 34990404 PMCID: PMC8843735 DOI: 10.1172/jci155523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The KRAS proto-oncogene is among the most frequently mutated genes in cancer, yet for 40 years it remained an elusive therapeutic target. Recently, allosteric inhibitors that covalently bind to KRAS G12C mutations have been approved for use in lung adenocarcinomas. Although responses are observed, they are often short-lived, thus making in-depth characterization of the mechanisms of resistance of paramount importance. METHODS Here, we present a rapid-autopsy case of a patient who had a KRASG12C-mutant lung adenocarcinoma who initially responded to a KRAS G12C inhibitor but then rapidly developed resistance. Using deep-RNA and whole-exome sequencing comparing pretreatment, posttreatment, and matched normal tissues, we uncover numerous mechanisms of resistance to direct KRAS inhibition. RESULTS In addition to decreased KRAS G12C–mutant allele frequency in refractory tumors, we also found reactivation of the MAPK pathway despite no new mutations in KRAS or its downstream mediators. Tumor cell–intrinsic and non–cell autonomous mechanisms included increased complement activation, coagulation, and tumor angiogenesis, and several lines of evidence of immunologic evasion. CONCLUSION Together, our findings reveal numerous mechanisms of resistance to current KRAS G12C inhibitors through enrichment of clonal populations, KRAS-independent downstream signaling, and diverse remodeling of the tumor microenvironment. FUNDING Richard and Fran Duley, Jimmy and Kay Mann, the NIH, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yihsuan S Tsai
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Mark G Woodcock
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Salma H Azam
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Leigh B Thorne
- Department of Pathology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Krishna L Kanchi
- Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Joel S Parker
- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Benjamin G Vincent
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
| | - Chad V Pecot
- Department of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States of America
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Valind A, Gisselsson D. Immune checkpoint inhibitors in Wilms' tumor and Neuroblastoma: What now? Cancer Rep (Hoboken) 2021; 4:e1397. [PMID: 33932141 PMCID: PMC8714551 DOI: 10.1002/cnr2.1397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 02/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Therapeutic activation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes using monoclonal antibodies targeting PD1 or PD-L1 (immune checkpoint inhibitors-ICIs) has revolutionized treatment of specific solid tumors in adult cancer patients, and much hope has been placed on a similar effect in relapsed or refractory solid pediatric tumors. Recent clinical trials have disappointingly shown an almost nonexistent response rate, while case reports have demonstrated that some pediatric patients do achieve durable responses when treated with this type of drug. AIM To elucidate this paradox, we mapped the landscape of expressed neoantigens as well as the levels of immune cell infiltration in the two most common extracranial solid pediatric tumors: Wilms tumor and neuroblastoma using state-of-the-art in silico analysis of a large cohort of patients with these tumors. METHODS By integration of whole exome sequencing and RNA-sequencing, we mapped the landscape of neoantigens in the TARGET cohorts for these diagnoses and correlated these findings with known genetic prognostic markers. RESULTS Our analysis shows that these tumors typically have much lower levels of expressed neoantigens than commonly seen in adult cancers, but we also identify subgroups with significantly higher levels of neoantigens. For neuroblastomas, the cases with higher levels of neoantigens were confined to the group without MYCN-amplification and for Wilms tumor restricted to the TP53-mutated cases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that neuroblastomas have an unexpectedly high level of CD8+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, even when compared to adult tumor types where ICI is an approved treatment. CONCLUSION These results could be important to consider when designing future clinical trials of ICI treatment in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders Valind
- Division of Clinical GeneticsLund UniversityLundSweden
- Department of PediatricsSkåne University HospitalLundSweden
| | - David Gisselsson
- Division of Clinical GeneticsLund UniversityLundSweden
- Department of PathologyLaboratory Medicine SkåneLundSweden
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Fotakis G, Trajanoski Z, Rieder D. Computational cancer neoantigen prediction: current status and recent advances. IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY TECHNOLOGY 2021; 12:100052. [PMID: 35755950 PMCID: PMC9216660 DOI: 10.1016/j.iotech.2021.100052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Over the last few decades, immunotherapy has shown significant therapeutic efficacy in a broad range of cancer types. Antitumor immune responses are contingent on the recognition of tumor-specific antigens, which are termed neoantigens. Tumor neoantigens are ideal targets for immunotherapy since they can be recognized as non-self antigens by the host immune system and thus are able to elicit an antitumor T-cell response. There are an increasing number of studies that highlight the importance of tumor neoantigens in immunoediting and in the sensitivity to immune checkpoint blockade. Therefore, one of the most fundamental tasks in the field of immuno-oncology research is the identification of patient-specific neoantigens. To this end, a plethora of computational approaches have been developed in order to predict tumor-specific aberrant peptides and quantify their likelihood of binding to patients' human leukocyte antigen molecules in order to be recognized by T cells. In this review, we systematically summarize and present the most recent advances in computational neoantigen prediction, and discuss the challenges and novel methods that are being developed to resolve them. Tumors have the ability to acquire immune escape mechanisms. Tumor-specific aberrant peptides (neoantigens) can elicit an immune response by the host immune system. The identification of neoantigens is one of the most fundamental tasks in the field of immuno-oncology research. A plethora of computational approaches have been developed in order to predict patient-specificneoantigens.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Fotakis
- Institute of Bioinformatics, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Z Trajanoski
- Institute of Bioinformatics, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - D Rieder
- Institute of Bioinformatics, Biocenter, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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Liu SYM, Sun H, Zhou JY, Zhang JT, Yin K, Chen ZH, Su J, Zhang XC, Yang JJ, Zhou Q, Tu HY, Wu YL. Prediction of unfavourable response to checkpoint blockade in lung cancer patients through an integrated tumour-immune expression score. Transl Oncol 2021; 15:101254. [PMID: 34715621 PMCID: PMC8571398 DOI: 10.1016/j.tranon.2021.101254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Revised: 10/02/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Predictive power of PD response for ICIs was superior than traditional biomarkers; Predictive efficacy was improved by integrating tumor-immune-related features; When tumor-specific feature was replaced, the model has pan-cancer applicability. NRAS and PDPK1 have the potential to induce primary resistance to ICIs.
Background Treatment by immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) provides a remarkable survival benefit for multiple cancer types. However, disease aggravation occurs in a proportion of patients after the first couple of treatment cycles. Methods RNA sequencing data was retrospectively collected. 6 tumour-immune related features were extracted and combined to build a lung cancer-specific predictive model to distinguish responses as progression disease (PD) or non-PD. This model was trained by 3 public pan-cancer datasets and a lung cancer cohort from our institute, and generated a lung cancer-specific integrated gene expression score, which we call LITES. It was finally tested in another lung cancer dataset. Results LITES is a promising predictor for checkpoint blockade (area under the curve [AUC]=0.86), superior to traditional biomarkers. It is independent of PD-L1 expression and tumour mutation burden. The sensitivity and specificity of LITES was 85.7% and 70.6%, respectively. Progression free survival (PFS) was longer in high-score group than in low-score group (median PFS: 6.0 vs. 2.4 months, hazard ratio=0.45, P=0.01). The mean AUC of 6 features was 0.70 (range=0.61-0.75), lower than in LITES, indicating that the combination of features had synergistic effects. Among the genes identified in the features, patients with high expression of NRAS and PDPK1 tended to have a PD response (P=0.001 and 0.01, respectively). Our model also functioned well for patients with advanced melanoma and was specific for ICB therapy. Conclusions LITES is a promising biomarker for predicting an impaired response in lung cancer patients and for clarifying the biological mechanism underlying ICB therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si-Yang Maggie Liu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China; Department of Hematology; First Affiliated Hospital; Institute of Hematology, School of Medicine; Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine of Ministry of Education; Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China
| | - Hao Sun
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Jia-Ying Zhou
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Jia-Tao Zhang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Kai Yin
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Zhi-Hong Chen
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Jian Su
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Xu-Chao Zhang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Jin-Ji Yang
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Qing Zhou
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Hai-Yan Tu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China
| | - Yi-Long Wu
- Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Translational Medicine in Lung Cancer, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou 510080, China.
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Schaap-Johansen AL, Vujović M, Borch A, Hadrup SR, Marcatili P. T Cell Epitope Prediction and Its Application to Immunotherapy. Front Immunol 2021; 12:712488. [PMID: 34603286 PMCID: PMC8479193 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.712488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
T cells play a crucial role in controlling and driving the immune response with their ability to discriminate peptides derived from healthy as well as pathogenic proteins. In this review, we focus on the currently available computational tools for epitope prediction, with a particular focus on tools aimed at identifying neoepitopes, i.e. cancer-specific peptides and their potential for use in immunotherapy for cancer treatment. This review will cover how these tools work, what kind of data they use, as well as pros and cons in their respective applications.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Milena Vujović
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Annie Borch
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Sine Reker Hadrup
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Paolo Marcatili
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
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Bortolomeazzi M, Keddar MR, Montorsi L, Acha-Sagredo A, Benedetti L, Temelkovski D, Choi S, Petrov N, Todd K, Wai P, Kohl J, Denner T, Nye E, Goldstone R, Ward S, Wilson GA, Al Bakir M, Swanton C, John S, Miles J, Larijani B, Kunene V, Fontana E, Arkenau HT, Parker PJ, Rodriguez-Justo M, Shiu KK, Spencer J, Ciccarelli FD. Immunogenomics of Colorectal Cancer Response to Checkpoint Blockade: Analysis of the KEYNOTE 177 Trial and Validation Cohorts. Gastroenterology 2021; 161:1179-1193. [PMID: 34197832 PMCID: PMC8527923 DOI: 10.1053/j.gastro.2021.06.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2021] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS Colorectal cancer (CRC) shows variable response to immune checkpoint blockade, which can only partially be explained by high tumor mutational burden (TMB). We conducted an integrated study of the cancer tissue and associated tumor microenvironment (TME) from patients treated with pembrolizumab (KEYNOTE 177 clinical trial) or nivolumab to dissect the cellular and molecular determinants of response to anti- programmed cell death 1 (PD1) immunotherapy. METHODS We selected multiple regions per tumor showing variable T-cell infiltration for a total of 738 regions from 29 patients, divided into discovery and validation cohorts. We performed multiregional whole-exome and RNA sequencing of the tumor cells and integrated these with T-cell receptor sequencing, high-dimensional imaging mass cytometry, detection of programmed death-ligand 1 (PDL1) interaction in situ, multiplexed immunofluorescence, and computational spatial analysis of the TME. RESULTS In hypermutated CRCs, response to anti-PD1 immunotherapy was not associated with TMB but with high clonality of immunogenic mutations, clonally expanded T cells, low activation of Wnt signaling, deregulation of the interferon gamma pathway, and active immune escape mechanisms. Responsive hypermutated CRCs were also rich in cytotoxic and proliferating PD1+CD8 T cells interacting with PDL1+ antigen-presenting macrophages. CONCLUSIONS Our study clarified the limits of TMB as a predictor of response of CRC to anti-PD1 immunotherapy. It identified a population of antigen-presenting macrophages interacting with CD8 T cells that consistently segregate with response. We therefore concluded that anti-PD1 agents release the PD1-PDL1 interaction between CD8 T cells and macrophages to promote cytotoxic antitumor activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Bortolomeazzi
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mohamed Reda Keddar
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucia Montorsi
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Amelia Acha-Sagredo
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lorena Benedetti
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Damjan Temelkovski
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Subin Choi
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nedyalko Petrov
- Biomedical Research Centre, Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Katrina Todd
- Biomedical Research Centre, Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Patty Wai
- State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Johannes Kohl
- State-Dependent Neural Processing Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Tamara Denner
- Experimental Histopathology, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Emma Nye
- Experimental Histopathology, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Robert Goldstone
- Advanced Sequencing Facility, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sophia Ward
- Advanced Sequencing Facility, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Gareth A Wilson
- Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Maise Al Bakir
- Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Charles Swanton
- Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Susan John
- School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Banafshe Larijani
- FASTBASE Solutions S.L, Derio, Spain; Cell Biophysics Laboratory, Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Research Centre for Experimental Marine Biology and Biotechnology & Biophysics Institute, University of the Basque Country, Leioa, Bizkaia, Spain; Centre for Therapeutic Innovation, Cell Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology & Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Victoria Kunene
- Medical Oncology, University Hospitals Birmingham National Health Service Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Elisa Fontana
- Drug Development Unit, Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hendrik-Tobias Arkenau
- Drug Development Unit, Sarah Cannon Research Institute UK, London, United Kingdom; Department of Oncology, University College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J Parker
- School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Protein Phosphorylation Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Manuel Rodriguez-Justo
- Department of Histopathology, University College London Cancer Institute, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kai-Keen Shiu
- Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology, University College London Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jo Spencer
- School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Francesca D Ciccarelli
- Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom; School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
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Chen Z, Zhang S, Han N, Jiang J, Xu Y, Ma D, Lu L, Guo X, Qiu M, Huang Q, Wang H, Mo F, Chen S, Yang L. A Neoantigen-Based Peptide Vaccine for Patients With Advanced Pancreatic Cancer Refractory to Standard Treatment. Front Immunol 2021; 12:691605. [PMID: 34484187 PMCID: PMC8414362 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.691605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Neoantigens are critical targets to elicit robust antitumor T-cell responses. Personalized cancer vaccines developed based on neoantigens have shown promising results by prolonging cancer patients' overall survival (OS) for several cancer types. However, the safety and efficacy of these vaccine modalities remains unclear in pancreatic cancer patients. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 7 advanced pancreatic cancer patients. Up to 20 neoantigen peptides per patient identified by our in-house pipeline iNeo-Suite were selected, manufactured and administered to these patients with low tumor mutation burden (TMB) (less than 10 mutations/Mb). Each patient received multiple doses of vaccine depending on the progression of the disease. Peripheral blood samples of each patient were collected pre- and post-vaccination for the analysis of the immunogenicity of iNeo-Vac-P01 through ELISpot assay and flow cytometry. Results No severe vaccine-related adverse effects were witnessed in patients enrolled in this study. The mean OS, OS associated with vaccine treatment and progression free survival (PFS) were reported to be 24.1, 8.3 and 3.1 months, respectively. Higher peripheral IFN-γ titer and CD4+ or CD8+ effector memory T cells count post vaccination were found in patients with relatively long overall survival. Remarkably, for patient P01 who had a 21-month OS associated with vaccine treatment, the abundance of antigen-specific TCR clone drastically increased from 0% to nearly 100%, indicating the potential of iNeo-Vac-P01 in inducing the activation of a specific subset of T cells to kill cancer cells. Conclusions Neoantigen identification and selection were successfully applied to advanced pancreatic cancer patients with low TMB. As one of the earliest studies that addressed an issue in treating pancreatic cancer with personalized vaccines, it has been demonstrated that iNeo-Vac-P01, a personalized neoantigen-based peptide vaccine, could improve the currently limited clinical efficacy of pancreatic cancer. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier (NCT03645148).Registered August 24, 2018 - Retrospectively registered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheling Chen
- Cancer Center, Department of Medical Oncology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China
| | - Shanshan Zhang
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang California International Nanosystems Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Ning Han
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Jiahong Jiang
- Cancer Center, Department of Medical Oncology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yunyun Xu
- Department of Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China
| | - Dongying Ma
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Lantian Lu
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Xiaojie Guo
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Min Qiu
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Qinxue Huang
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Huimin Wang
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Fan Mo
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China.,College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Vancouver Prostate Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,Hangzhou AI-Force Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China
| | - Shuqing Chen
- Hangzhou Neoantigen Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang California International Nanosystems Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Liu Yang
- Cancer Center, Department of Medical Oncology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, People's Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China
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Comprehensively Exploring the Mutational Landscape and Patterns of Genomic Evolution in Hypermutated Cancers. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13174317. [PMID: 34503126 PMCID: PMC8431047 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13174317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary To identify potential genetic markers for evaluating hypermutated cancers, we investigated driver mutations, mutational signatures, tumor-associated neoantigens, and molecular cancer evolution in the genetic variants of 533 cancer patients with six different cancer types. Driver mutations, including RET, CBL, and DDR2 gene mutations, were identified in the hypermutated cancers. Cancer driver mutations and mutational signatures are associated with sensitivity or resistance to immunotherapy, representing potential genetic markers in hypermutated cancers. Using computational predictions, we identified two tumor-associated neoantigens. Sequential mutations were used in a logistic model to predict hypermutated cancers according to genomic evolution. The sequential mutation order and coexisting genetic mutations were found to influence the hypermutation phenotype. Based on our observations, we developed a new concept for hypermutated cancers, whereby sequential mutations are significant for hypermutated cancers, which are mutationally heterogeneous. Through the comprehensive assessments of cancer gene panels, mutational pattern analysis was conducted as a basis for providing recommendations regarding therapeutic strategies for hypermutated cancer patients. Abstract Tumor heterogeneity results in more than 50% of hypermutated cancers failing to respond to standard immunotherapy. There are numerous challenges in terms of drug resistance, therapeutic strategies, and biomarkers in immunotherapy. In this study, we analyzed primary tumor samples from 533 cancer patients with six different cancer types using deep targeted sequencing and gene expression data from 78 colorectal cancer patients, whereby driver mutations, mutational signatures, tumor-associated neoantigens, and molecular cancer evolution were investigated. Driver mutations, including RET, CBL, and DDR2 gene mutations, were identified in the hypermutated cancers. Most hypermutated endometrial and pancreatic cancer patients carry genetic mutations in EGFR, FBXW7, and PIK3CA that are linked to immunotherapy resistance, while hypermutated head and neck cancer patients carry genetic mutations associated with better treatment responses, such as ATM and BRRCA2 mutations. APOBEC (apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like) and DNA repair defects are mutational drivers that are signatures for hypermutated cancer. Cancer driver mutations and other mutational signatures are associated with sensitivity or resistance to immunotherapy, representing potential genetic markers in hypermutated cancers. Using computational prediction, we identified NF1 p.T700I and NOTCH1 p.V2153M as tumor-associated neoantigens, representing potential therapeutic targets for immunotherapy. Sequential mutations were used to predict hypermutated cancers based on genomic evolution. Using a logistic model, we achieved an area under the curve (AUC) = 0.93, accuracy = 0.93, and sensitivity = 0.81 in the testing set. The sequential patterns were distinct among the six cancer types, and the sequential mutation order of MSH2 and the coexisting BRAF genetic mutations influenced the hypermutated phenotype. The TP53~MLH1 and NOTCH1~TET2 sequential mutations impacted colorectal cancer survival (p-value = 0.027 and 0.0001, respectively) by reducing the expression of PTPRCAP (p-value = 1.06 × 10−6) and NOS2 (p-value = 7.57 × 10−7) in immunity. Sequential mutations are significant for hypermutated cancers, which are characterized by mutational heterogeneity. In addition to driver mutations and mutational signatures, sequential mutations in cancer evolution can impact hypermutated cancers. They characterize potential responses or predictive markers for hypermutated cancers. These data can also be used to develop hypermutation-associated drug targets and elucidate the evolutionary biology of cancer survival. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of mutational patterns, including sequential mutations, and identified useful markers and therapeutic targets in hypermutated cancer patients.
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50
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Izadi F, Sharpe BP, Breininger SP, Secrier M, Gibson J, Walker RC, Rahman S, Devonshire G, Lloyd MA, Walters ZS, Fitzgerald RC, Rose-Zerilli MJJ, Underwood TJ. Genomic Analysis of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Esophageal Adenocarcinoma. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:3394. [PMID: 34298611 PMCID: PMC8308111 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13143394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Neoadjuvant therapy followed by surgery is the standard of care for locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Unfortunately, response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is poor (20-37%), as is the overall survival benefit at five years (9%). The EAC genome is complex and heterogeneous between patients, and it is not yet understood whether specific mutational patterns may result in chemotherapy sensitivity or resistance. To identify associations between genomic events and response to NAC in EAC, a comparative genomic analysis was performed in 65 patients with extensive clinical and pathological annotation using whole-genome sequencing (WGS). We defined response using Mandard Tumor Regression Grade (TRG), with responders classified as TRG1-2 (n = 27) and non-responders classified as TRG4-5 (n =38). We report a higher non-synonymous mutation burden in responders (median 2.08/Mb vs. 1.70/Mb, p = 0.036) and elevated copy number variation in non-responders (282 vs. 136/patient, p < 0.001). We identified copy number variants unique to each group in our cohort, with cell cycle (CDKN2A, CCND1), c-Myc (MYC), RTK/PIK3 (KRAS, EGFR) and gastrointestinal differentiation (GATA6) pathway genes being specifically altered in non-responders. Of note, NAV3 mutations were exclusively present in the non-responder group with a frequency of 22%. Thus, lower mutation burden, higher chromosomal instability and specific copy number alterations are associated with resistance to NAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fereshteh Izadi
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Centre for NanoHealth, Swansea University Medical School, Singleton Campus, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK
| | - Benjamin P. Sharpe
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Stella P. Breininger
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
| | - Maria Secrier
- UCL Genetics Institute, Division of Biosciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK;
| | - Jane Gibson
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Robert C. Walker
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
| | - Saqib Rahman
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
| | - Ginny Devonshire
- Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0RE, UK;
| | - Megan A. Lloyd
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
| | - Zoë S. Walters
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Rebecca C. Fitzgerald
- MRC Cancer Unit, Hutchison/MRC Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 OXZ, UK;
| | - Matthew J. J. Rose-Zerilli
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
| | - Tim J. Underwood
- School of Cancer Sciences, Cancer Research UK Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK; (F.I.); (B.P.S.); (S.P.B.); (J.G.); (R.C.W.); (S.R.); (M.A.L.); (Z.S.W.); (M.J.J.R.-Z.)
- Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
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