1
|
Su Z, Wu Y, Cao K, Du J, Cao L, Wu Z, Wu X, Wang X, Song Y, Wang X, Duan H. APEX-pHLA: A novel method for accurate prediction of the binding between exogenous short peptides and HLA class I molecules. Methods 2024; 228:38-47. [PMID: 38772499 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2024.05.013] [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: 01/27/2024] [Revised: 04/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecules play critically significant role within the realm of immunotherapy due to their capacities to recognize and bind exogenous antigens such as peptides, subsequently delivering them to immune cells. Predicting the binding between peptides and HLA molecules (pHLA) can expedite the screening of immunogenic peptides and facilitate vaccine design. However, traditional experimental methods are time-consuming and inefficient. In this study, an efficient method based on deep learning was developed for predicting peptide-HLA binding, which treated peptide sequences as linguistic entities. It combined the architectures of textCNN and BiLSTM to create a deep neural network model called APEX-pHLA. This model operated without limitations related to HLA class I allele variants and peptide segment lengths, enabling efficient encoding of sequence features for both HLA and peptide segments. On the independent test set, the model achieved Accuracy, ROC_AUC, F1, and MCC is 0.9449, 0.9850, 0.9453, and 0.8899, respectively. Similarly, on an external test set, the results were 0.9803, 0.9574, 0.8835, and 0.7863, respectively. These findings outperformed fifteen methods previously reported in the literature. The accurate prediction capability of the APEX-pHLA model in peptide-HLA binding might provide valuable insights for future HLA vaccine design.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhihao Su
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China.
| | - Yejian Wu
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China
| | - Kaiqiang Cao
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China.
| | - Jie Du
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China.
| | - Lujing Cao
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China
| | - Zhipeng Wu
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China
| | - Xinyi Wu
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China
| | - Xinqiao Wang
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China
| | - Ying Song
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China.
| | - Xudong Wang
- College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310014, China.
| | - Hongliang Duan
- Faculty of Applied Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University, Macao 999078, China.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Rocha LGDN, Guimarães PAS, Carvalho MGR, Ruiz JC. Tumor Neoepitope-Based Vaccines: A Scoping Review on Current Predictive Computational Strategies. Vaccines (Basel) 2024; 12:836. [PMID: 39203962 PMCID: PMC11360805 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines12080836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2024] [Revised: 07/09/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 09/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic cancer vaccines have been considered in recent decades as important immunotherapeutic strategies capable of leading to tumor regression. In the development of these vaccines, the identification of neoepitopes plays a critical role, and different computational methods have been proposed and employed to direct and accelerate this process. In this context, this review identified and systematically analyzed the most recent studies published in the literature on the computational prediction of epitopes for the development of therapeutic vaccines, outlining critical steps, along with the associated program's strengths and limitations. A scoping review was conducted following the PRISMA extension (PRISMA-ScR). Searches were performed in databases (Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct) using the keywords: neoepitope, epitope, vaccine, prediction, algorithm, cancer, and tumor. Forty-nine articles published from 2012 to 2024 were synthesized and analyzed. Most of the identified studies focus on the prediction of epitopes with an affinity for MHC I molecules in solid tumors, such as lung carcinoma. Predicting epitopes with class II MHC affinity has been relatively underexplored. Besides neoepitope prediction from high-throughput sequencing data, additional steps were identified, such as the prioritization of neoepitopes and validation. Mutect2 is the most used tool for variant calling, while NetMHCpan is favored for neoepitope prediction. Artificial/convolutional neural networks are the preferred methods for neoepitope prediction. For prioritizing immunogenic epitopes, the random forest algorithm is the most used for classification. The performance values related to the computational models for the prediction and prioritization of neoepitopes are high; however, a large part of the studies still use microbiome databases for training. The in vitro/in vivo validations of the predicted neoepitopes were verified in 55% of the analyzed studies. Clinical trials that led to successful tumor remission were identified, highlighting that this immunotherapeutic approach can benefit these patients. Integrating high-throughput sequencing, sophisticated bioinformatics tools, and rigorous validation methods through in vitro/in vivo assays as well as clinical trials, the tumor neoepitope-based vaccine approach holds promise for developing personalized therapeutic vaccines that target specific tumor cancers.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Luiz Gustavo do Nascimento Rocha
- Biologia Computacional e Sistemas (BCS), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil; (L.G.d.N.R.); (P.A.S.G.)
- Grupo Informática de Biossistemas e Genômica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-002, Brazil
| | - Paul Anderson Souza Guimarães
- Biologia Computacional e Sistemas (BCS), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil; (L.G.d.N.R.); (P.A.S.G.)
- Grupo Informática de Biossistemas e Genômica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-002, Brazil
| | - Maria Gabriela Reis Carvalho
- Biologia Computacional e Sistemas (BCS), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil; (L.G.d.N.R.); (P.A.S.G.)
- Grupo Informática de Biossistemas e Genômica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-002, Brazil
| | - Jeronimo Conceição Ruiz
- Biologia Computacional e Sistemas (BCS), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC), Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, Brazil; (L.G.d.N.R.); (P.A.S.G.)
- Grupo Informática de Biossistemas e Genômica, Instituto René Rachou, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Belo Horizonte 30190-002, Brazil
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
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 PMCID: PMC11377031 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.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Erika Sejje
- Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Arequipa, Perú
| | | | | | - Yván Túpac
- 187038 Universidad Católica San Pablo , Arequipa, Perú
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Loeffler-Wirth H, Lehmann C, Lachmann N, Doxiadis I. Homozygosity in any HLA locus is a risk factor for specific antibody production: the taboo concept 2.0. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1384823. [PMID: 38840925 PMCID: PMC11150536 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1384823] [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: 02/10/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Objective In a cooperative study of the University Hospital Leipzig, University of Leipzig, and the Charité Berlin on kidney transplant patients, we analysed the occurrence of HLA-specific antibodies with respect to the HLA setup of the patients. We aimed at the definition of specific HLA antigens towards which the patients produced these antibodies. Methods Patients were typed for the relevant HLA determinants using mainly the next-generation technology. Antibody screening was performed by the state-of-the-art multiplex-based technology using microspheres coupled with the respective HLA alleles of HLA class I and II determinants. Results Patients homozygous for HLA-A*02, HLA-A*03, HLA-A*24, HLA-B*07, HLA-B*18, HLA-B*35, HLA-B*44, HLA-C*03, HLA-C*04, and HLA-C*07 in the class I group and HLA-DRB1*01, HLA-DRB1*03, HLA-DRB1*07, HLA-DRB1*15, HLA-DQA1*01, HLA-DQA1*05, HLA-DQB1*02, HLA-DQB1*03(7), HLA-DQB1*06, HLA-DPA1*01, and HLA-DPB1*04 in the class II group were found to have a significant higher antibody production compared to the heterozygous ones. In general, all HLA determinants are affected. Remarkably, HLA-A*24 homozygous patients can produce antibodies towards all HLA-A determinants, while HLA-B*18 homozygous ones make antibodies towards all HLA-B and selected HLA-A and C antigens, and are associated with an elevation of HLA-DRB1, parts of DQB1 and DPB1 alleles. Homozygosity for the HLA class II HLA-DRB1*01, and HLA-DRB1*15 seems to increase the risk for antibody responses against most of the HLA class I antigens (HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-C) in contrast to HLA-DQB1*03(7) where a lower risk towards few HLA-A and HLA-B alleles is found. The widely observed differential antibody response is therefore to be accounted to the patient's HLA type. Conclusion Homozygous patients are at risk of producing HLA-specific antibodies hampering the outcome of transplantation. Including this information on the allocation procedure might reduce antibody-mediated immune reactivity and prevent graft loss in a patient at risk, increasing the life span of the transplanted organ.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Henry Loeffler-Wirth
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Bioinformatics (IZBI), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Claudia Lehmann
- Laboratory for Transplantation Immunology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Nils Lachmann
- Institute for Transfusion Medicine, H & I Laboratory, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt Universitätzu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ilias Doxiadis
- Laboratory for Transplantation Immunology, University Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Borch A, Carri I, Reynisson B, Alvarez HMG, Munk KK, Montemurro A, Kristensen NP, Tvingsholm SA, Holm JS, Heeke C, Moss KH, Hansen UK, Schaap-Johansen AL, Bagger FO, de Lima VAB, Rohrberg KS, Funt SA, Donia M, Svane IM, Lassen U, Barra C, Nielsen M, Hadrup SR. IMPROVE: a feature model to predict neoepitope immunogenicity through broad-scale validation of T-cell recognition. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1360281. [PMID: 38633261 PMCID: PMC11021644 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1360281] [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: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Mutation-derived neoantigens are critical targets for tumor rejection in cancer immunotherapy, and better tools for neoepitope identification and prediction are needed to improve neoepitope targeting strategies. Computational tools have enabled the identification of patient-specific neoantigen candidates from sequencing data, but limited data availability has hindered their capacity to predict which of the many neoepitopes will most likely give rise to T cell recognition. Method To address this, we make use of experimentally validated T cell recognition towards 17,500 neoepitope candidates, with 467 being T cell recognized, across 70 cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. Results We evaluated 27 neoepitope characteristics, and created a random forest model, IMPROVE, to predict neoepitope immunogenicity. The presence of hydrophobic and aromatic residues in the peptide binding core were the most important features for predicting neoepitope immunogenicity. Conclusion Overall, IMPROVE was found to significantly advance the identification of neoepitopes compared to other current methods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annie Borch
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Ibel Carri
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Birkir Reynisson
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Heli M. Garcia Alvarez
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Kamilla K. Munk
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | | | - Siri A. Tvingsholm
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Jeppe Sejerø Holm
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Christina Heeke
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Keith Henry Moss
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Ulla Kring Hansen
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | | | | | | | | | - Samuel A. Funt
- Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, United States
| | - Marco Donia
- National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark
| | - Inge Marie Svane
- National Center for Cancer Immune Therapy, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev, Denmark
| | - Ulrik Lassen
- Department of Oncology, Phase 1 Unit, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Carolina Barra
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Morten Nielsen
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sine Reker Hadrup
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Wang M, Lei C, Wang J, Li Y, Li M. TripHLApan: predicting HLA molecules binding peptides based on triple coding matrix and transfer learning. Brief Bioinform 2024; 25:bbae154. [PMID: 38600667 PMCID: PMC11006794 DOI: 10.1093/bib/bbae154] [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: 12/26/2023] [Revised: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) recognizes foreign threats and triggers immune responses by presenting peptides to T cells. Computationally modeling the binding patterns between peptide and HLA is very important for the development of tumor vaccines. However, it is still a big challenge to accurately predict HLA molecules binding peptides. In this paper, we develop a new model TripHLApan for predicting HLA molecules binding peptides by integrating triple coding matrix, BiGRU + Attention models, and transfer learning strategy. We have found the main interaction site regions between HLA molecules and peptides, as well as the correlation between HLA encoding and binding motifs. Based on the discovery, we make the preprocessing and coding closer to the natural biological process. Besides, due to the input being based on multiple types of features and the attention module focused on the BiGRU hidden layer, TripHLApan has learned more sequence level binding information. The application of transfer learning strategies ensures the accuracy of prediction results under special lengths (peptides in length 8) and model scalability with the data explosion. Compared with the current optimal models, TripHLApan exhibits strong predictive performance in various prediction environments with different positive and negative sample ratios. In addition, we validate the superiority and scalability of TripHLApan's predictive performance using additional latest data sets, ablation experiments and binding reconstitution ability in the samples of a melanoma patient. The results show that TripHLApan is a powerful tool for predicting the binding of HLA-I and HLA-II molecular peptides for the synthesis of tumor vaccines. TripHLApan is publicly available at https://github.com/CSUBioGroup/TripHLApan.git.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Meng Wang
- School of Computer Science and engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
| | - Chuqi Lei
- School of Computer Science and engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
| | - Jianxin Wang
- School of Computer Science and engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
| | - Yaohang Li
- Department of Computer Science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
| | - Min Li
- School of Computer Science and engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Li Y, Wu X, Fang D, Luo Y. Informing immunotherapy with multi-omics driven machine learning. NPJ Digit Med 2024; 7:67. [PMID: 38486092 PMCID: PMC10940614 DOI: 10.1038/s41746-024-01043-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Progress in sequencing technologies and clinical experiments has revolutionized immunotherapy on solid and hematologic malignancies. However, the benefits of immunotherapy are limited to specific patient subsets, posing challenges for broader application. To improve its effectiveness, identifying biomarkers that can predict patient response is crucial. Machine learning (ML) play a pivotal role in harnessing multi-omic cancer datasets and unlocking new insights into immunotherapy. This review provides an overview of cutting-edge ML models applied in omics data for immunotherapy analysis, including immunotherapy response prediction and immunotherapy-relevant tumor microenvironment identification. We elucidate how ML leverages diverse data types to identify significant biomarkers, enhance our understanding of immunotherapy mechanisms, and optimize decision-making process. Additionally, we discuss current limitations and challenges of ML in this rapidly evolving field. Finally, we outline future directions aimed at overcoming these barriers and improving the efficiency of ML in immunotherapy research.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yawei Li
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
- Center for Collaborative AI in Healthcare, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
| | - Xin Wu
- Department of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA
| | - Deyu Fang
- Department of Pathology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA
| | - Yuan Luo
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
- Center for Collaborative AI in Healthcare, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Martinez GS, Dutt M, Kelvin DJ, Kumar A. PoxiPred: An Artificial-Intelligence-Based Method for the Prediction of Potential Antigens and Epitopes to Accelerate Vaccine Development Efforts against Poxviruses. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:125. [PMID: 38392343 PMCID: PMC10887159 DOI: 10.3390/biology13020125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
Poxviridae is a family of large, complex, enveloped, and double-stranded DNA viruses. The members of this family are ubiquitous and well known to cause contagious diseases in humans and other types of animals as well. Taxonomically, the poxviridae family is classified into two subfamilies, namely Chordopoxvirinae (affecting vertebrates) and Entomopoxvirinae (affecting insects). The members of the Chordopoxvirinae subfamily are further divided into 18 genera based on the genome architecture and evolutionary relationship. Of these 18 genera, four genera, namely Molluscipoxvirus, Orthopoxvirus, Parapoxvirus, and Yatapoxvirus, are known for infecting humans. Some of the popular members of poxviridae are variola virus, vaccine virus, Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), cowpox, etc. There is still a pressing demand for the development of effective vaccines against poxviruses. Integrated immunoinformatics and artificial-intelligence (AI)-based methods have emerged as important approaches to design multi-epitope vaccines against contagious emerging infectious diseases. Despite significant progress in immunoinformatics and AI-based techniques, limited methods are available to predict the epitopes. In this study, we have proposed a unique method to predict the potential antigens and T-cell epitopes for multiple poxviruses. With PoxiPred, we developed an AI-based tool that was trained and tested with the antigens and epitopes of poxviruses. Our tool was able to locate 3191 antigen proteins from 25 distinct poxviruses. From these antigenic proteins, PoxiPred redundantly located up to five epitopes per protein, resulting in 16,817 potential T-cell epitopes which were mostly (i.e., 92%) predicted as being reactive to CD8+ T-cells. PoxiPred is able to, on a single run, identify antigens and T-cell epitopes for poxviruses with one single input, i.e., the proteome file of any poxvirus.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Sganzerla Martinez
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Health Center, Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV), Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Laboratory of Immunity, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 512025, China
- BioForge Canada Limited, Halifax, B3N3B9, NS, Canada
| | - Mansi Dutt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Health Center, Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV), Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Laboratory of Immunity, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 512025, China
- BioForge Canada Limited, Halifax, B3N3B9, NS, Canada
| | - David J Kelvin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Health Center, Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV), Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Laboratory of Immunity, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 512025, China
- BioForge Canada Limited, Halifax, B3N3B9, NS, Canada
| | - Anuj Kumar
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Department of Pediatrics, Izaak Walton Killam (IWK) Health Center, Canadian Center for Vaccinology (CCfV), Halifax, NS B3H 4H7, Canada
- Laboratory of Immunity, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou 512025, China
- BioForge Canada Limited, Halifax, B3N3B9, NS, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Farzan R. Artificial intelligence in Immuno-genetics. Bioinformation 2024; 20:29-35. [PMID: 38352901 PMCID: PMC10859949 DOI: 10.6026/973206300200029] [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: 01/01/2024] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Rapid advancements in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) have opened up unprecedented opportunities to revolutionize various scientific domains, including immunology and genetics. Therefore, it is of interest to explore the emerging applications of AI in immunology and genetics, with the objective of enhancing our understanding of the dynamic intricacies of the immune system, disease etiology, and genetic variations. Hence, the use of AI methodologies in immunological and genetic datasets, thereby facilitating the development of innovative approaches in the realms of diagnosis, treatment, and personalized medicine is reviewed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Raed Farzan
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Scienecs, King Saud University, Riyadh - 11433, Saudi Arabia
- Center of Excellence in Biotechnology Research, King Saud University, Riyadh - 11433, Saudi Arabia
- Medical and Molecular Genetics Research, King Saud University, Riyadh-11433, Saudi Arabia
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Conev A, Fasoulis R, Hall-Swan S, Ferreira R, Kavraki LE. HLAEquity: Examining biases in pan-allele peptide-HLA binding predictors. iScience 2024; 27:108613. [PMID: 38188519 PMCID: PMC10770483 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Peptide-HLA (pHLA) binding prediction is essential in screening peptide candidates for personalized peptide vaccines. Machine learning (ML) pHLA binding prediction tools are trained on vast amounts of data and are effective in screening peptide candidates. Most ML models report the ability to generalize to HLA alleles unseen during training ("pan-allele" models). However, the use of datasets with imbalanced allele content raises concerns about biased model performance. First, we examine the data bias of two ML-based pan-allele pHLA binding predictors. We find that the pHLA datasets overrepresent alleles from geographic populations of high-income countries. Second, we show that the identified data bias is perpetuated within ML models, leading to algorithmic bias and subpar performance for alleles expressed in low-income geographic populations. We draw attention to the potential therapeutic consequences of this bias, and we challenge the use of the term "pan-allele" to describe models trained with currently available public datasets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anja Conev
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Romanos Fasoulis
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Sarah Hall-Swan
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Rodrigo Ferreira
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Lydia E. Kavraki
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Shukla N, Srivastava N, Gupta R, Srivastava P, Narayan J. COVID Variants, Villain and Victory: A Bioinformatics Perspective. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2039. [PMID: 37630599 PMCID: PMC10459809 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11082039] [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: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/11/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, a novel member of the Coronaviridae family, is responsible for the viral infection known as Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In response to the urgent and critical need for rapid detection, diagnosis, analysis, interpretation, and treatment of COVID-19, a wide variety of bioinformatics tools have been developed. Given the virulence of SARS-CoV-2, it is crucial to explore the pathophysiology of the virus. We intend to examine how bioinformatics, in conjunction with next-generation sequencing techniques, can be leveraged to improve current diagnostic tools and streamline vaccine development for emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. We also emphasize how bioinformatics, in general, can contribute to critical areas of biomedicine, including clinical diagnostics, SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance and its evolution, identification of potential drug targets, and development of therapeutic strategies. Currently, state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools have helped overcome technical obstacles with respect to genomic surveillance and have assisted in rapid detection, diagnosis, and delivering precise treatment to individuals on time.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nityendra Shukla
- CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mall Road, Delhi 110007, India; (N.S.); (R.G.)
| | - Neha Srivastava
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow Campus, Lucknow 226010, India; (N.S.); (P.S.)
| | - Rohit Gupta
- CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mall Road, Delhi 110007, India; (N.S.); (R.G.)
| | - Prachi Srivastava
- Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow Campus, Lucknow 226010, India; (N.S.); (P.S.)
| | - Jitendra Narayan
- CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Mall Road, Delhi 110007, India; (N.S.); (R.G.)
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Zhuang L, Ye Z, Li L, Yang L, Gong W. Next-Generation TB Vaccines: Progress, Challenges, and Prospects. Vaccines (Basel) 2023; 11:1304. [PMID: 37631874 PMCID: PMC10457792 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11081304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Revised: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is a prevalent global infectious disease and a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Currently, the only available vaccine for TB prevention is Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). However, BCG demonstrates limited efficacy, particularly in adults. Efforts to develop effective TB vaccines have been ongoing for nearly a century. In this review, we have examined the current obstacles in TB vaccine research and emphasized the significance of understanding the interaction mechanism between MTB and hosts in order to provide new avenues for research and establish a solid foundation for the development of novel vaccines. We have also assessed various TB vaccine candidates, including inactivated vaccines, attenuated live vaccines, subunit vaccines, viral vector vaccines, DNA vaccines, and the emerging mRNA vaccines as well as virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines, which are currently in preclinical stages or clinical trials. Furthermore, we have discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with developing different types of TB vaccines and outlined future directions for TB vaccine research, aiming to expedite the development of effective vaccines. This comprehensive review offers a summary of the progress made in the field of novel TB vaccines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Li Zhuang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of New Techniques of Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment, Senior Department of Tuberculosis, Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100091, China
- Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
| | - Zhaoyang Ye
- Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
| | - Linsheng Li
- Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
| | - Ling Yang
- Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
| | - Wenping Gong
- Beijing Key Laboratory of New Techniques of Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment, Senior Department of Tuberculosis, Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100091, China
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Zhang Z, Wei X. Artificial intelligence-assisted selection and efficacy prediction of antineoplastic strategies for precision cancer therapy. Semin Cancer Biol 2023; 90:57-72. [PMID: 36796530 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2023.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the context of the vast amount of collectable data obtained from high-throughput sequencing has led to an unprecedented understanding of cancer and accelerated the advent of a new era of clinical oncology with a tone of precision treatment and personalized medicine. However, the gains achieved by a variety of AI models in clinical oncology practice are far from what one would expect, and in particular, there are still many uncertainties in the selection of clinical treatment options that pose significant challenges to the application of AI in clinical oncology. In this review, we summarize emerging approaches, relevant datasets and open-source software of AI and show how to integrate them to address problems from clinical oncology and cancer research. We focus on the principles and procedures for identifying different antitumor strategies with the assistance of AI, including targeted cancer therapy, conventional cancer therapy, and cancer immunotherapy. In addition, we also highlight the current challenges and directions of AI in clinical oncology translation. Overall, we hope this article will provide researchers and clinicians with a deeper understanding of the role and implications of AI in precision cancer therapy, and help AI move more quickly into accepted cancer guidelines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhe Zhang
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, Chengdu 610041, PR China
| | - Xiawei Wei
- Laboratory of Aging Research and Cancer Drug Target, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, PR China.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Xu S, Wang X, Fei C. A Highly Effective System for Predicting MHC-II Epitopes With Immunogenicity. Front Oncol 2022; 12:888556. [PMID: 35785204 PMCID: PMC9246415 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.888556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
In the past decade, the substantial achievements of therapeutic cancer vaccines have shed a new light on cancer immunotherapy. The major challenge for designing potent therapeutic cancer vaccines is to identify neoantigens capable of inducing sufficient immune responses, especially involving major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-II epitopes. However, most previous studies on T-cell epitopes were focused on either ligand binding or antigen presentation by MHC rather than the immunogenicity of T-cell epitopes. In order to better facilitate a therapeutic vaccine design, in this study, we propose a revolutionary new tool: a convolutional neural network model named FIONA (Flexible Immunogenicity Optimization Neural-network Architecture) trained on IEDB datasets. FIONA could accurately predict the epitopes presented by the given specific MHC-II subtypes, as well as their immunogenicity. By leveraging the human leukocyte antigen allele hierarchical encoding model together with peptide dense embedding fusion encoding, FIONA (with AUC = 0.94) outperforms several other tools in predicting epitopes presented by MHC-II subtypes in head-to-head comparison; moreover, FIONA has unprecedentedly incorporated the capacity to predict the immunogenicity of epitopes with MHC-II subtype specificity. Therefore, we developed a reliable pipeline to effectively predict CD4+ T-cell immune responses against cancer and infectious diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Caiyi Fei
- Department of AI and Bioinformatics, Nanjing Chengshi BioTech (TheraRNA) Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
A transformer-based model to predict peptide–HLA class I binding and optimize mutated peptides for vaccine design. NAT MACH INTELL 2022. [DOI: 10.1038/s42256-022-00459-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
|
17
|
Neoantigen Cancer Vaccines: Generation, Optimization, and Therapeutic Targeting Strategies. Vaccines (Basel) 2022; 10:vaccines10020196. [PMID: 35214655 PMCID: PMC8877108 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10020196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2021] [Revised: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternatives to conventional cancer treatments are highly sought after for high-risk malignancies that have a poor response to established treatment modalities. With research advancing rapidly in the past decade, neoantigen-based immunotherapeutic approaches represent an effective and highly tolerable therapeutic option. Neoantigens are tumor-specific antigens that are not expressed in normal cells and possess significant immunogenic potential. Several recent studies have described the conceptual framework and methodologies to generate neoantigen-based vaccines as well as the formulation of appropriate clinical trials to advance this approach for patient care. This review aims to describe some of the key studies in the recent literature in this rapidly evolving field and summarize the current advances in neoantigen identification and selection, vaccine generation and delivery, and the optimization of neoantigen-based therapeutic strategies, including the early data from pivotal clinical studies.
Collapse
|