Centrosomal localisation of the cancer/testis (CT) antigens NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-C1 is regulated by proteasome activity in tumour cells

Unveiling the significance of cancer-testis antigens and their implications for immunotherapy in glioma

Glioma has a poor prognosis, which is attributable to its inherent characteristics and lack of specific treatments. Immunotherapy plays a pivotal role in the contemporary management of malignancies. Despite the initiation of numerous immunotherapy-based clinical trials, their effects on enhancing glioma prognosis remain limited, highlighting the need for innovative and effective therapeutic targets and strategies to address this challenge. Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest in cancer-testis antigens (CTAs) present in normal mammalian testicular germ cells and placental trophoblast cells, which exhibit reactivated expression in various tumor types. Mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification, transcriptional regulation, and alternative splicing influence the expression of CTAs in tumors. The distinct expression patterns and robust immunogenicity of CTAs are promising tumor biomarkers and optimal targets for immunotherapy. Previous reports have shown that multiple CTAs are present in gliomas and are closely related to prognosis. The expression of these antigens is also associated with the immune response in gliomas and the effectiveness of immunotherapy. Significantly, numerous clinical trials, with IL13RA2 as a representative CTA member, have assessed the immunotherapeutic potential of gliomas and have shown favorable clinical efficacy. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation and function of CTAs, summarizes their expression and role in gliomas, emphasizes their importance as immunotherapy targets in gliomas, and discusses related challenges and future interventions.

NY-ESO-1 antigen: A promising frontier in cancer immunotherapy

Significant strides have been made in identifying tumour-associated antigens over the past decade, revealing unique epitopes crucial for targeted cancer therapy. Among these, the New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (NY-ESO-1) protein, a cancer/testis antigen, stands out. This protein is presented on the cell surface by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules and exhibits restricted expression in germline cells and various cancers, marking it as an immune-privileged site. Remarkably, NY-ESO-1 serves a dual role as both a tumour-associated antigen and its own adjuvant, implying a potential function as a damage-associated molecular pattern. It elicits strong humoural immune responses, with specific antibody frequencies significantly correlating with disease progression. These characteristics make NY-ESO-1 an appealing candidate for developing effective and specific immunotherapy, particularly for advanced stages of disease. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of NY-ESO-1 as an immunogenic tumour antigen. We then explore the diverse strategies for targeting NY-ESO-1, including cancer vaccination with peptides, proteins, DNA, mRNA, bacterial vectors, viral vectors, dendritic cells and artificial adjuvant vector cells, while considering the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy. Additionally, we offer an in-depth analysis of adoptive T-cell therapies, highlighting innovative techniques such as next-generation NY-ESO-1 T-cell products and the integration with lymph node-targeted vaccines to address challenges and enhance therapeutic efficacy. Overall, this comprehensive review sheds light on the evolving landscape of NY-ESO-1 targeting and its potential implications for cancer treatment, opening avenues for future tailored directions in NY-ESO-1-specific immunotherapy. HIGHLIGHTS: Endogenous immune response: NY-ESO-1 exhibited high immunogenicity, activating endogenous dendritic cells, T cells and B cells. NY-ESO-1-based cancer vaccines: NY-ESO-1 vaccines using protein/peptide, RNA/DNA, microbial vectors and artificial adjuvant vector cells have shown promise in enhancing immune responses against tumours. NY-ESO-1-specific T-cell receptor-engineered cells: NY-ESO-1-targeted T cells, along with ongoing innovations in engineered natural killer cells and other cell therapies, have improved the efficacy of immunotherapy.

Enhancing antitumor response by efficiently generating large-scale TCR-T cells targeting a single epitope across multiple cancer antigens

The need to contrive interventions to curb the rise in cancer incidence and mortality is critical for improving patients' prognoses. Adoptive cell therapy is challenged with quality large-scale production, heightening its production cost. Several cancer types have been associated with the expression of highly-immunogenic CTAG1 and CTAG2 antigens, which share common epitopes. Targeting two antigens on the same cancer could improve the antitumor response of TCR-T cells. In this study, we exploited an efficient way to generate large-fold quality TCR-T cells and also demonstrated that the common epitopes of CTAG1 and CTAG2 antigens provide an avenue for improved cancer-killing via dual-antigen-epitope targeting. Our study revealed that xeno/sera-free medium could expand TCR-T cells to over 500-fold, posing as a better replacement for FBS-supplemented media. Human AB serum was also shown to be a good alternative in the absence of xeno/sera-free media. Furthermore, TCR-T cells stimulated with beads-coated T-activator showed a better effector function than soluble T-activator stimulated TCR-T cells. Additionally, TCR-T cells that target multiple antigens in the same cancer yield better anticancer activity than those targeting a single antigen. This showed that targeting multiple antigens with a common epitope may enhance the antitumor response efficacy of T cell therapies.

NY-ESO-1-specific T cell receptor-engineered T cells and Tranilast, a TRPV2 antagonist bivalent treatment enhances the killing of esophageal cancer: a dual-targeted cancer therapeutic route

BACKGROUND

Esophageal cancer (EC) is a global canker notorious for causing high mortality due to its relentless incidence rate, convoluted with unyielding recurrence and metastasis. However, these intricacies of EC are associated with an immoderate expression of NY-ESO-1 antigen, presenting a lifeline for adoptive T cell therapy. We hypothesized that naturally isolated higher-affinity T cell receptors (TCRs) that bind to NY-ESO-1 would allow T lymphocytes to target EC with a pronounced antitumor response efficacy. Also, targeting TRPV2, which is associated with tumorigenesis in EC, creates an avenue for dual-targeted therapy. We exploited the dual-targeting antitumor efficacy against EC.

METHODS

We isolated antigen-specific TCRs (asTCRs) from a naive library constructed with TCRs obtained from enriched cytotoxic T lymphocytes. The robustness of our asTCRs and their TCR-T cell derivatives, Tranilast (TRPV2 inhibitor), and their bivalent treatment were evaluated with prospective cross-reactive human-peptide variants and tumor cells.

RESULTS

Our study demonstrated that our naive unenhanced asTCRs and their TCR-Ts perpetuated their cognate HLA-A*02:01/NY-ESO-1(157-165) specificity, killing varying EC cells with higher cytotoxicity compared to the known affinity-enhanced TCR (TCRe) and its wild-type (TCR0) which targets the same NY-ESO-1 antigen. Furthermore, the TCR-Ts and Tranilast bivalent treatment showed superior EC killing compared to any of their monovalent treatments of either TCR-T or Tranilast.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that dual-targeted immunotherapy may have a superior antitumor effect. Our study presents a technique to evolve novel, robust, timely therapeutic strategies and interventions for EC and other malignancies.

Gene of the month: cancer testis antigen gene 1b (NY-ESO-1)

Cancer testis antigen gene 1B (CTAG1B) and its associated gene product; New York oesophageal squamous carcinoma 1 (NY-ESO-1), represent a unique and promising target for cancer immunotherapy. As a member of the cancer testis antigen family (CTA), the protein's restricted expression pattern and ability to elicit spontaneous humoural and cellular immune responses has resulted in a plethora of novel modalities and approaches attempting to harness its immunotherapeutic anti-cancer potential. Here, we discuss the structure and function of CTAG1B/NY-ESO-1 in both health and disease, immunohistochemical detection, as well as the most promising advances in the development of associated anti-cancer therapies. From cancer vaccines to engineered cellular therapy approaches, a multitude of immunotherapies targeting CTA's are coming to the forefront of oncology. Although the efficacy of such approaches have yet to provide convincing evidence of durable response, early phase clinical trial data has resulted in some exciting findings which will have significant potential to act as a platform for future practice changing technologies.

The role of Cancer/Testis Antigens in Multiple Myeloma pathogenesis and their application in disease monitoring and therapy

A unique group of genes, encoding tumour associated antigens, known as the Cancer/Testis Antigens (CTAs), have been explored as novel markers of disease progression and as targets of immunotherapy in several cancers, including the haematological malignancy Multiple Myeloma (MM). This review aims to update the knowledge of CTA involvement in MM pathogenesis and how their potential as biomarkers for disease monitoring and targets of immunotherapy has been explored in the MM disease arena. Despite the initial promise of these antigens, their use as immunotherapy targets has not been successful, yet with a greater understanding of their role in disease pathogenesis they may still have a significant role to play as biomarkers of disease and therapeutic targets.

AKAP4, SPAG9 and NY-ESO-1 in Iranian Colorectal Cancer Patients as Probable Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarkers

Background and objectives:

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the world. Cancer-Testis Antigens (CTAs) are a group of tumor-associated proteins which typically are expressed in normal reproductive cells of men, but their expression in normal somatic cells is silenced. CTAs, due to their limited expression pattern, are considered as promising targets for cancer diagnosis and immuno-therapy.

Methods:

Expression of AKAP4, SPAG9 and CTAG1B genes from the CTAs family was studied in both tumor and normal tissues of 62 Iranian CRC patients by RT-PCR with the aim of finding biomarkers for early detection and anticipated progression. Statistical analysis was performed SPSS software V22.0 to assess the significance of any associations.

Results:

Elevated expression of SPAG9 and AKAP4 genes was observed in approximately 66% and 44% of tumours, respectively, as compared to adjacent non-cancerous tissues. While a significant association was found between AKAP4 gene expression and metastasis (P-value: 0.045), expression of the CTAG1B (NY-ESO-1) gene was not observed in our cases.

Conclusion:

AKAP4 and SPAG9 genes may find use as diagnostic biomarkers for CRC and AKAP4 may play an important role in progression to metastasis.

New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma-1 and cancer immunotherapy

New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma 1 (NY-ESO-1) is a known cancer testis gene with exceptional immunogenicity and prevalent expression in many cancer types. These characteristics have made it an appropriate vaccine candidate with the potential application against various malignancies. This article reviews recent knowledge about the NY-ESO-1 biology, function, immunogenicity and expression in cancers as well as and the results of clinical trials with this antigen.