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Aparicio B, Repáraz D, Ruiz M, Llopiz D, Silva L, Vercher E, Theunissen P, Tamayo I, Smerdou C, Igea A, Santisteban M, Gónzalez-Deza C, Lasarte JJ, Hervás-Stubbs S, Sarobe P. Identification of HLA class I-restricted immunogenic neoantigens in triple negative breast cancer. Front Immunol 2022; 13:985886. [PMID: 36405725 PMCID: PMC9666480 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.985886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 07/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-based immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is achieving limited therapeutic results, requiring the development of more potent strategies. Combination of ICI with vaccination strategies would enhance antitumor immunity and response rates to ICI in patients having poorly infiltrated tumors. In heavily mutated tumors, neoantigens (neoAgs) resulting from tumor mutations have induced potent responses when used as vaccines. Thus, our aim was the identification of immunogenic neoAgs suitable as vaccines in TNBC patients. By using whole exome sequencing, RNAseq and HLA binding algorithms of tumor samples from a cohort of eight TNBC patients, we identified a median of 60 mutations/patient, which originated a putative median number of 98 HLA class I-restricted neoAgs. Considering a group of 27 predicted neoAgs presented by HLA-A*02:01 allele in two patients, peptide binding to HLA was experimentally confirmed in 63% of them, whereas 55% were immunogenic in vivo in HLA-A*02:01+ transgenic mice, inducing T-cells against the mutated but not the wild-type peptide sequence. Vaccination with peptide pools or DNA plasmids expressing these neoAgs induced polyepitopic T-cell responses, which recognized neoAg-expressing tumor cells. These results suggest that TNBC tumors harbor neoAgs potentially useful in therapeutic vaccines, opening the way for new combined immunotherapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Belén Aparicio
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - David Repáraz
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Marta Ruiz
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Diana Llopiz
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Leyre Silva
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Enric Vercher
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Patrick Theunissen
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ibon Tamayo
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Cristian Smerdou
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ana Igea
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Marta Santisteban
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Oncología Médica, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | | | - Juan J. Lasarte
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Sandra Hervás-Stubbs
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Pablo Sarobe
- Centro de Investigación Médica Aplicada (CIMA), Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREHD), Pamplona, Spain
- IdiSNA, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
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Kowalska D, Kuźniewska A, Senent Y, Tavira B, Inogés S, López-Díaz de Cerio A, Pio R, Okrój M, Yuste JR. C5a elevation in convalescents from severe COVID-19 is not associated with early complement activation markers C3bBbP or C4d. Front Immunol 2022; 13:946522. [PMID: 36091057 PMCID: PMC9448977 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.946522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerous publications have underlined the link between complement C5a and the clinical course of COVID-19. We previously reported that levels of C5a remain high in the group of severely ill patients up to 90 days after hospital discharge. We have now evaluated which complement pathway fuels the elevated levels of C5a during hospitalization and follow-up. The alternative pathway (AP) activation marker C3bBbP and the soluble fraction of C4d, a footprint of the classical/lectin (CP/LP) pathway, were assessed by immunoenzymatic assay in a total of 188 serial samples from 49 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Unlike C5a, neither C3bBbP nor C4d readouts rose proportionally to the severity of the disease. Detailed correlation analyses in hospitalization and follow-up samples collected from patients of different disease severity showed significant positive correlations of AP and CP/LP markers with C5a in certain groups, except for the follow-up samples of the patients who suffered from highly severe COVID-19 and presented the highest C5a readouts. In conclusion, there is not a clear link between persistently high levels of C5a after hospital discharge and markers of upstream complement activation, suggesting the existence of a non-canonical source of C5a in patients with a severe course of COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daria Kowalska
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Alicja Kuźniewska
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Yaiza Senent
- Program in Solid Tumors, Translational Oncology Group, Cima-University of Navarra and Cancer Center University of Navarra (CCUN), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, School of Sciences, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Oncology and Hematology, Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdISNA), Pamplona, Spain
| | - Beatriz Tavira
- Program in Solid Tumors, Translational Oncology Group, Cima-University of Navarra and Cancer Center University of Navarra (CCUN), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, School of Sciences, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Pathology, Anatomy and Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Susana Inogés
- Department of Oncology and Hematology, Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdISNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Area of Cell Therapy and Department of Hematology, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ascensión López-Díaz de Cerio
- Department of Oncology and Hematology, Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdISNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Area of Cell Therapy and Department of Hematology, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
| | - Ruben Pio
- Program in Solid Tumors, Translational Oncology Group, Cima-University of Navarra and Cancer Center University of Navarra (CCUN), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, School of Sciences, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Oncology and Hematology, Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdISNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Program in Respiratory Tract Tumors, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer (CIBERONC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Marcin Okrój
- Department of Cell Biology and Immunology, Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Gdańsk and Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
- *Correspondence: Marcin Okrój,
| | - José Ramón Yuste
- Department of Oncology and Hematology, Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdISNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Department of Internal Medicine, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
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