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Sufyan M, Shahid F, Irshad F, Javaid A, Qasim M, Ashfaq UA. Implementation of Vaccinomics and In-Silico Approaches to Construct Multimeric Based Vaccine Against Ovarian Cancer. Int J Pept Res Ther 2021; 27:2845-2859. [PMID: 34690620 PMCID: PMC8524215 DOI: 10.1007/s10989-021-10294-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
One of the most common gynecologic cancers is ovarian cancer and ranked third after the other two most common cancers: cervical and uterine. The highest mortality rate has been observed in the case of ovarian cancer. To treat ovarian cancer, an immune-informatics approach was used to design a multi-epitope vaccine (MEV) structure. Epitopes prediction of the cancer testis antigens (NY-ESO-1), A-Kinase anchor protein (AKAP4), Acrosin binding protein (ACRBP), Piwi-like protein (PIWIL3), and cancer testis antigen 2 (LAGE-1) was done. Non-toxic, highly antigenic, non-allergenic, and overlapping epitopes were shortlisted for vaccine construction. Chosen T-cell epitopes displayed a robust binding attraction with their corresponding Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) alleles demonstrated 97.59% of population coverage. The vaccine peptide was established by uniting three key constituents, comprising the 14 epitopes of CD8 + cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), 5 helper epitopes, and the adjuvant. For the generation of the effective response of CD4 + cells towards the T-helper cells, granulocyte–macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was applied. With the addition of adjuvants and linkers, the construct size was 547 amino acids. The developed MEV structure was predicted to be antigenic, non-toxic, non-allergenic, and firm in nature. I-tasser anticipated the 3D construction of MEV. Moreover, disulfide engineering further enhanced the stability of the final vaccine protein. In-silico cloning and vaccine codon optimization were done to analyze the up-regulation of its expression. The outcomes established the vaccine’s immunogenicity and safety profile, besides its aptitude to encourage both humoral and cellular immune responses. The offered vaccine, grounded on our in-silico investigation, may be considered for ovarian cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Sufyan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Farah Shahid
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Faiza Irshad
- Environment Biotechnology Lab, Institute of Botany, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
| | - Anam Javaid
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Qasim
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
| | - Usman Ali Ashfaq
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan
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Dobre EG, Constantin C, Costache M, Neagu M. Interrogating Epigenome toward Personalized Approach in Cutaneous Melanoma. J Pers Med 2021; 11:901. [PMID: 34575678 PMCID: PMC8467841 DOI: 10.3390/jpm11090901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Epigenetic alterations have emerged as essential contributors in the pathogenesis of various human diseases, including cutaneous melanoma (CM). Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic modifications are highly dynamic and reversible and thus easy to regulate. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the latest research findings on the role of genetic and epigenetic alterations in CM initiation and development. We believe that a better understanding of how aberrant DNA methylation and histone modifications, along with other molecular processes, affect the genesis and clinical behavior of CM can provide the clinical management of this disease a wide range of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as potential therapeutic targets that can be used to prevent or abrogate drug resistance. We will also approach the modalities by which these epigenetic alterations can be used to customize the therapeutic algorithms in CM, the current status of epi-therapies, and the preliminary results of epigenetic and traditional combinatorial pharmacological approaches in this fatal disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena-Georgiana Dobre
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 91–95, 050095 Bucharest, Romania; (M.C.); (M.N.)
| | - Carolina Constantin
- Immunology Department, “Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology, 050096 Bucharest, Romania;
- Pathology Department, Colentina Clinical Hospital, 020125 Bucharest, Romania
| | - Marieta Costache
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 91–95, 050095 Bucharest, Romania; (M.C.); (M.N.)
| | - Monica Neagu
- Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 91–95, 050095 Bucharest, Romania; (M.C.); (M.N.)
- Immunology Department, “Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology, 050096 Bucharest, Romania;
- Pathology Department, Colentina Clinical Hospital, 020125 Bucharest, Romania
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Qi YA, Maity TK, Cultraro CM, Misra V, Zhang X, Ade C, Gao S, Milewski D, Nguyen KD, Ebrahimabadi MH, Hanada KI, Khan J, Sahinalp C, Yang JC, Guha U. Proteogenomic Analysis Unveils the HLA Class I-Presented Immunopeptidome in Melanoma and EGFR-Mutant Lung Adenocarcinoma. Mol Cell Proteomics 2021; 20:100136. [PMID: 34391887 PMCID: PMC8724932 DOI: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2021.100136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2020] [Revised: 08/03/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive lymphocyte transfer–based therapies have shown great therapeutic potential in cancers with high tumor mutational burden (TMB), such as melanoma, but not in cancers with low TMB, such as mutant epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)–driven lung adenocarcinoma. Precision immunotherapy is an unmet need for most cancers, particularly for cancers that respond inadequately to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Here, we employed large-scale MS-based proteogenomic profiling to identify potential immunogenic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I-presented peptides in melanoma and EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Similar numbers of peptides were identified from both tumor types. Cell line and patient-specific databases (DBs) were constructed using variants identified from whole-exome sequencing. A de novo search algorithm was used to interrogate the HLA class I immunopeptidome MS data. We identified 12 variant peptides and several classes of tumor-associated antigen-derived peptides. We constructed a cancer germ line (CG) antigen DB with 285 antigens. This allowed us to identify 40 class I-presented CG antigen–derived peptides. The class I immunopeptidome comprised more than 1000 post-translationally modified (PTM) peptides representing 58 different PTMs, underscoring the critical role PTMs may play in HLA binding. Finally, leveraging de novo search algorithm and an annotated long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) DB, we developed a novel lncRNA-encoded peptide discovery pipeline to identify 44 lncRNA-derived peptides that are presented by class I. We validated tandem MS spectra of select variant, CG antigen, and lncRNA-derived peptides using synthetic peptides and performed HLA class I-binding assays to demonstrate binding to class I proteins. In summary, we provide direct evidence of HLA class I presentation of a large number of variant and tumor-associated peptides in both low and high TMB cancer. These results can potentially be useful for precision immunotherapies, such as vaccine or adoptive cell therapies in melanoma and EGFR-mutant lung cancers. Proteogenomics identified ∼35,000 class I-presented peptides. CG antigen and PTM peptides identified in melanoma and lung cancer. De novo search identified variant and lncRNA-derived peptides. A new strategy to identify class I-presented lncRNA-derived peptides developed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue A Qi
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
| | - Tapan K Maity
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Constance M Cultraro
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Vikram Misra
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Xu Zhang
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Catherine Ade
- Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Shaojian Gao
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - David Milewski
- Genetics Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Khoa D Nguyen
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Mohammad H Ebrahimabadi
- Cancer Data Science Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Department of Computer Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA
| | - Ken-Ichi Hanada
- Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Javed Khan
- Genetics Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Cenk Sahinalp
- Cancer Data Science Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - James C Yang
- Surgery Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Udayan Guha
- Thoracic and GI Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, NCI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA; Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA.
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Avdonkina NA, Danilova AB, Nekhaeva TL, Prosekina EA, Emelyanova NV, Novik AV, Girdyuk DV, Gafton GI, Baldueva IA. Clinical and immunological characteristics of sarcomas patients with clonogenic tumors. Immunobiology 2021; 226:152094. [PMID: 34052775 DOI: 10.1016/j.imbio.2021.152094] [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: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Tumorigenesis is related to the generation of heterogeneous tumor cell population, which is the result of genetic and epigenetic alterations followed by clonal selections and subsequent expansion. In basic studies genetic, histological and morphological diversity of different clones within a patient's neoplasm and specifics of their interrelation with patient's immune system are investigated mostly on the models of tumors of epithelial origin. Mesenchymal tumors such as soft tissue and bone-derived sarcomas (STBS) have been poorly studied in this regard. The molecular genetic methods used to examine intratumoral heterogeneity do not currently provide insight into which portion of the identified subclones are able to grow autonomously. Limiting dilution cloning demonstrates the existence of self-regulating tumor cells in the population and can serve as an independent prognostic predictor of poor prognosis. Intratumoral heterogeneity results not only in differences in growth dynamics, gene expression, and phenotypic markers, but also in the resistance to treatment, especially immunotherapy, thus causing tumor eluding immune escape. The changes that accompany this process can be affected by the cellular immune system, resulting in an imbalance between populations. The variations in the population composition of immune system cells are now widely debated as a predictor of response to immunotherapy, which is of obvious interest for sarcomas, where the effectiveness of chemotherapy is low and the prognosis is unfavorable, especially in case of metastatic disease development. The search for new predictive markers of disease prognosis and treatment efficacy is an important task, to which this study is focused. Our results demonstrate that clonogenic tumor characteristics such as clonogenic potential is independent predictor of unfavorable prognosis in cases of cancer and correlate with the clinical characteristics of the tumor such as overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). It was found that patients with clonogenic sarcomas had a lower content of activated cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) with the CD3+CD8+HLA-DR+ phenotype and an increased number of natural NK killers (p < 0.05) compared to nonclonogenic tumors. In addition, according to our data, a high neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), a low value of major T-lymphocyte populations, and a higher number of natural killer cells (NK) in the blood can be negative prognostic factors for the immunotherapy of this disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- N A Avdonkina
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation.
| | - A B Danilova
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - T L Nekhaeva
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - E A Prosekina
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - N V Emelyanova
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - A V Novik
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - D V Girdyuk
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - G I Gafton
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
| | - I A Baldueva
- N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Pesochny, Leningradskaya Street 68, St. Petersburg 197758, Russian Federation
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Ruby KN, Li Z, Yan S. Aberrant expression of HMB45 and negative PRAME expression in halo nevi. J Cutan Pathol 2021; 48:519-525. [PMID: 33184871 DOI: 10.1111/cup.13916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Traditionally, most cutaneous nevi show a gradient of HMB45 (human melanoma black 45) and negative PRAME (preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma) immunostaining, while melanomas often show irregularly positive, diffusely positive or completely negative HMB45 expression, and PRAME immunopositivity. However, we have occasionally observed benign halo nevi with loss of HMB45 gradient, raising diagnostic consideration for melanoma. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the expression pattern of HMB45 and PRAME in nevi with the halo phenomenon (NHP). METHODS PRAME and HMB45 staining patterns in 20 cases of NHP and 16 cases of conventional nevi were evaluated using light microscopy. An HMB45 gradient was defined as immunopositivity in only superficial melanocytes. HMB45 aberrant expression consisted of superficial and deep immunopositivity. RESULTS Aberrant HMB45 expression was observed in 10 of 20 NHP (50%). A gradient of HMB45 staining was seen in most conventional nevi, with only one showing focal weak expression in the deep dermis (6.3%). All cases of NHP and conventional nevi showed essentially negative immunostaining by PRAME. CONCLUSION Aberrant HMB45 expression in NHP is not uncommon and may be a diagnostic pitfall. Negative PRAME immunostaining may be a reassuring finding to help differentiate halo nevus from malignant melanoma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristen N Ruby
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Zhongze Li
- Biomedical Data Science Department, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Shaofeng Yan
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA
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