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Yajima Y, Kosaka A, Ishibashi K, Yasuda S, Komatsuda H, Nagato T, Oikawa K, Kitada M, Takekawa M, Kumai T, Ohara K, Ohkuri T, Kobayashi H. A tumor metastasis-associated molecule TWIST1 is a favorable target for cancer immunotherapy due to its immunogenicity. Cancer Sci 2022; 113:2526-2535. [PMID: 35579200 PMCID: PMC9357613 DOI: 10.1111/cas.15429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Although neoantigens are one of the most favorable targets in cancer immunotherapy, it is less versatile and costly to apply neoantigen-derived cancer vaccines to patients due to individual variation. It is, therefore, important to find highly immunogenic antigens among tumor-specific or associated antigens, which are shared among patients. Considering the cancer immunoediting theory, immunogenic tumor cells cannot survive in early phase of tumor progression including two processes: elimination and equilibrium. We hypothesized that highly immunogenic molecules are allowed to be expressed in tumor cells after immune suppressive tumor microenvironment was established, if these molecules contribute to tumor survival. In the current study, we focused on TWIST1 as a candidate of highly immunogenic antigens because it is upregulated in tumor cells under hypoxia and promotes tumor metastasis, which are observed in late phase of tumor progression. We demonstrated that TWIST1 had an immunogenic peptide sequence TWIST1140-162 , which effectively activated TWIST1-specific CD4+ T-cells. In a short-term culture system, we detected more TWIST1-specific responses in breast cancer patients than in healthy donors. Vaccination with the TWIST1 peptide also showed efficient expansion of TWIST1-reactive HTLs in humanized mice. These findings indicate that TWIST1 is a highly immunogenic shared antigen and a favorable target for cancer immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuki Yajima
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Akemi Kosaka
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Kei Ishibashi
- Breast Center, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Shunsuke Yasuda
- Breast Center, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Hiroki Komatsuda
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Toshihiro Nagato
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Kensuke Oikawa
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Masahiro Kitada
- Breast Center, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Masanori Takekawa
- Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Takumi Kumai
- Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Kenzo Ohara
- Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Takayuki Ohkuri
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
| | - Hiroya Kobayashi
- Department of Pathology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
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