Epigenetic modulation combined with PD-1/PD-L1 blockade enhances immunotherapy based on MAGE-A11 antigen-specific CD8+T cells against esophageal carcinoma

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 894-903
Author(s):  
Yunyan Wu ◽  
Meixiang Sang ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
Jiandong Zhang ◽  
Weijing Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are promising targets for T cell-based immunotherapy and studies have shown that certain CT genes are epigenetically depressed in cancer cells through DNA demethylation. Melanoma-associated antigen A11 (MAGE-A11) is a CTA that is frequently expressed in esophageal cancer and is correlated with a poor esophageal cancer prognosis. Consequently, MAGE-A11 is a potential immunotherapy target. In this study, we evaluated MAGE-A11 expression in esophageal cancer cells and found that it was downregulated in several tumor cell lines, which restricted the effect of immunotherapy. Additionally, the specific recognition and lytic potential of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) derived from the MAGE-A11 was determined. Specific CTLs could kill esophageal cancer cells expressing MAGE-A11 but rarely lysed MAGE-A11-negative tumor cells. Therefore, induction of MAGE-A11 expression is critical for CTLs recognition and lysis of esophageal cancer cells. Treatment with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine increased MAGE-A11 expression in esophageal cancer cells and subsequently enhanced the cytotoxicity of MAGE-A11-specific CD8+T cells against cancer cell lines. Furthermore, we found that PD-L1 expression in esophageal cancer cells affected the antitumor function of CTLs. programmed death-1 (PD-1)/PD-L1 blockade could increase the specific CTL-induced lysis of HLA-A2+/MAGE-A11+ tumor cell lines treated with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine. These findings indicate that the treatment of tumor cells with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine augments MAGE-A11 expression in esophageal cancer cells. The combination of epigenetic modulation by 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine and PD-1/PD-L1 blockade may be useful for T cell-based immunotherapy against esophageal cancer.

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4350
Author(s):  
Jessica Castro ◽  
Giusy Tornillo ◽  
Gerardo Ceada ◽  
Beatriz Ramos-Neble ◽  
Marlon Bravo ◽  
...  

Despite the significant advances in cancer research made in recent years, this disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In part, this is due to the fact that after therapy, a subpopulation of self-renewing tumor cells can survive and promote cancer relapse, resistance to therapies and metastasis. Targeting these cancer stem cells (CSCs) is therefore essential to improve the clinical outcome of cancer patients. In this sense, multi-targeted drugs may be promising agents targeting CSC-associated multifocal effects. We have previously constructed different human pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase) variants that are cytotoxic for tumor cells due to a non-classical nuclear localization signal introduced in their sequence. These cytotoxic RNases affect the expression of multiple genes involved in deregulated metabolic and signaling pathways in cancer cells and are highly cytotoxic for multidrug-resistant tumor cell lines. Here, we show that these cytotoxic nuclear-directed RNases are highly selective for tumor cell lines grown in 3D, inhibit CSCs’ development and diminish the self-renewal capacity of the CSCs population. Moreover, these human RNase variants reduce the migration and invasiveness of highly invasive breast cancer cells and downregulate N-cadherin expression.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 355-363
Author(s):  
Dong Ma ◽  
Shao-Bei Fan ◽  
Na Hua ◽  
Guo-Hua Li ◽  
Quan Chang ◽  
...  

Background: Chemokine 13 (CXCL13) and its chemokine receptor 5 (CXCR5) are involved in the onset of various types of cancer. However, their role in cervical cancer (CC) remains unknown. Objective: To investigate the role of chemokine 13 (CXCL13) and its receptor in CC. Methods: The expression of CXCL13/CXCR5 and the infiltration of CXCR5+CD8+ T cells in CC, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), normal cervical epithelial (NCE) tissues, and in CC cell lines were analysed and the associated clinical significance was determined. In vitro, CXCL13 overexpression and DNA methyltransferase inhibition (through S110) were used to investigate the biological function and the underlying mechanism that regulates CXCL13 expression. Tumor growth and liver metastasis were also evaluated in the xenogenous subcutaneously implant model. Results: CXCL13/CXCR5 expression levels and the infiltration of CXCR5+CD8+ T cells were significantly decreased in CC tissues compared with CIN and NCE tissues. CXCL13 downregulation was significantly correlated with the FIGO stages, lymph node metastasis, interstitial infiltration depth, and pathological grade. The overexpression of CXCL13 suppressed CC cell migration. CXCL13 downregulation was associated with hypermethylation in CC cell lines, and primary tumor biopsies. Furthermore, a CpG dinucleotide at the HIF-1a transcription factor motifs in the promoter element of CXCL13 was consistently methylated in CC cells and associated with HIF-1a. CXCL13 overexpression and S110 treatment dramatically repressed tumor growth and liver metastasis in the xenograft model; whereas it’s low expression increased the risk of death in CC patients. Conclusion: DNA methylation-dependent CXCL13 downregulation may promote cervical carcinogenesis and progression.


2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 21043-21043
Author(s):  
J. Y. Chang ◽  
R. Komaki ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
L. Wang ◽  
B. Fang

21043 Background: Only 25% of esophageal cancer patients achieve pathological complete response after standard chemoradiotherapy. Radiation dose escalation is associated with higher toxicity but no therapeutic improvement. In addition, esophageal cancer cells may develop radiation resistance (RR) after fractionated radiation exposure. Therefore, molecular targeting therapy for RR esophageal cancer is urgently needed. Methods: Six pairs of RR esophageal cancer cell lines were established by applying continuous 2 Gy fractionated irradiation. Ad/TRAIL-E1, an oncolytic adenoviral vector expressing both apoptotic TRAIL and viral E1A genes under the control of tumor specific human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter, was constructed. Phosphate buffer solution and vectors expressing the TRAIL gene only, the GFP marker protein only, or the E1A gene only served as controls. Trans-gene expression, apoptosis activation, and the RR esophageal cancer cells targeted were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. A human esophageal RR cancer model was established and locally treated with Ad/TRAIL-E1 or controls. Results: After fractionated radiation exposure, esophageal cancer cell lines developed RR (up to 25-fold) that was associated with activation of the anti-apoptotic pathway. Ad/TRAIL-E1 activated an apoptotic cascade of caspases and selectively killed esophageal cancer cells but not normal cells. Ad/TRAIL-E1 preferentially targeted RR stem-like cancer cells with higher trans-gene expression and cell killing compared with parental cells. Overexpression (3 times) of Coxsackie's and adenoviral receptors in RR esophageal cancer cells compared with parental cells was noted. Ad/TRAIL-E1 therapy resulted in 40% tumor-free survival without the treatment- related toxicity found in human RR esophageal adenocarcinoma mouse models (p<0.05 as compared with controls). Conclusions: Esophageal cancer cells develop RR after fractionated radiation exposure. Ad/TRAIL-E1 preferentially targeted RR stem-like esophageal cancer cells, which resulted in a 40% cure rate. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14515-e14515
Author(s):  
Ioannis Gavvovidis ◽  
Matthias Leisegang ◽  
Jenifer Oduro ◽  
Matthias Obenaus ◽  
Eugen Leo ◽  
...  

e14515 Background: As cancer-testis antigens are self-antigens, T cells expressing high-affinity TCRs against such antigens are suppressed via negative thymic selection. Therefore, patient- or donor-derived TCRs are typically of low affinity and result in a reduced antitumor effect. Using our proprietary HuTCR platform, which consists of mouse lines carrying the full human TCR α/β loci in combination with common human HLA alleles, we have isolated high-affinity TCRs specific for the cancer-testis antigen MAGE-A1 and compared them to human-derived MAGE-A1-specific TCRs that are currently reported to be in clinical development. Furthermore, we validated MAGE-A1 as a potential cancer therapy target by using immunohistochemistry to evaluate expression in several major tumor types and healthy tissue. Methods: Using scRNAseq, TCRs were isolated from HuTCR mice. Human-derived MAGE-A1-specific TCR sequences were obtained from publicly available databases. All TCRs were expressed in primary human T cells as verified using peptide-MHC-multimer staining. Functional avidity of the TCRs was analyzed by coculture with T2 target cells loaded with titrated amounts of epitope peptides and measuring cytokine concentration by ELISA. Reactivity of TCRs to endogenously processed MAGE-A1 protein was assessed by co-culture with a panel of tumor cell lines varying in MAGE-A1 and/or MHC-class-I expression. MAGE-A1 expression on protein level was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results: Immunization of HuTCR mice with the antigen resulted in robust CD8+ T cell responses and several TCR clonotypes were identified by scRNAseq, with the majority of clonotypes being specific to the MAGE-A1-derived peptide KVLEYVIKV and TCR affinities ranging from 0.3 nM to 3 nM. By comparison, human-derived TCRs exhibited generally lower functional avidity from 3 nM to 60 nM. In addition, HuTCR-mouse-derived TCRs were more sensitive in recognition of tumor cell lines expressing low MAGE-A1 and/or HLA-A2. Immunohistochemical analysis of MAGE-A1 expression in healthy tissues demonstrated highly selective expression of MAGE-A1 in testis, only. Screening for expression confirmed that a significant proportion of several major cancer types expresses MAGE-A1 as reported by various other groups [reviewed in Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2015 December; 37: 1–8]. Conclusions: The HuTCR mouse platform allows for the generation of high-affinity MAGE-A1-specific TCRs with increased anti-tumor efficacy as compared to human-derived TCRs against the same cancer antigen. In addition, it was confirmed that MAGE-A1 has a highly selective expression pattern in healthy tissues (testis, only), but shows distinct expression in several major human tumor types.


Author(s):  
Mohamed El Gendy ◽  
Michael Weinfeld ◽  
Ahmed Abdoon

Background: Gold nanorods (GNRs) are very promising agents that have multiple applications in medicine and biology. However, the cytotoxic effects of GNRs have not been fully explored. Objective: Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine the selective cytotoxic effect of GNRs towards several human tumor cell lines. Methods: To address this issue, three sizes of GNRs (10-nm, 25-nm, and 50-nm) were tested against two human tumor cell lines, namely, human hepatoma HepG2 and human prostate PC3 cancer cells. As GNRs are usually stored in soft tissues inside living bodies, we also tested the effect of GNRs on murine splenocyte viability. To determine if the GNRs displayed selectivity cytotoxicity towards cancer cells, active GNRs with the size showing the least cytotoxicity to splenocytes were then tested against a panel of 11 human tumor cell lines and two human non-tumor cell lines. Results: Our results showed that the most cytotoxic size of GNRs is 10-nm, followed by the 25-nm GNRs, while the 50-nm GNRs did not show a significant effect. In addition, the 25-nm GNRs were the least cytotoxic to splenocytes when tested for 24 and 48 h. These GNRs showed a selective cytotoxic effect to prostate cancer PC3 cells with median inhibitory concentration (IC50) = 8.3 + 0.37 µM, myeloblastic leukemia HL60 cells (IC50 = 19.7 + 0.89 µM), cervical cancer HeLa cells (IC50 = 24.6 + 0.37 µM), renal adenocarcinoma 786.0 cells (IC50 = 27.34 + 0.6 µM), and hepatoma HepG2 cells (IC50 = 27.79 + 0.03 µM) when compared to the effect on the non-tumor human cells; skin fibroblast BJ cell line (IC50 = 40.13 + 0.7 µM) or epithelial breast MCF10A cells (IC50 = 33.2 + 0.89 µM). A high selectivity indices (SI) were observed in GNRs-treated PC3 and HL60 cells with values ranging from 1.69 to 4.83, whereas moderate SIs were observed in GNRs-treated HeLa, 786.0, and HepG2 cells with values ranging from 1.19 to 1.63. Other cells did not show a similar selective effect, including human laryngeal HEp2 cells, colon HCT116, metastatic renal adenocarcinoma ACHN cells, and human breast cancer cells (MCF7, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-468 cells). The effect of GNRs was confirmed using the colony formation assay and the effect was found to be cell cycle specific. Finally, it was shown that laser treatment can potentiate the cytotoxic effect of the 25-nm GNRs. Conclusion: GNRs are selective cytotoxic agents and they have the potential to act as candidate anticancer agents.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 3391-3391
Author(s):  
Volker Kunzmann ◽  
Judith Engert ◽  
Brigitte Kimmel ◽  
Martin Wilhelm ◽  
Hermann Einsele

Abstract Activated Vγ9Vδ2 T cells, the major γδ T lymphocyte subset in humans, show cytolytic activity against various tumor cells. However, tumor antigens recognized by the TCR remained unkown so far. Recently, the ectopic surface expression of the F1-ATPase, normally expressed on the internal membrane of mitochondria, was implicated in tumor recognition of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells (Scotet E. et al., Immunity2005; 22:71–80). Surface expression of the a chain of the F1-ATPase (recognized by monoclonal antibody 7H10) strongly correlates with susceptibility of tumor cells against Vγ9Vδ2 T cell lysis. Different functions have been attributed to the ectopic expression of the F1-ATPase on the cell surface, including an immunoregulatory role induced by cell stress, receptor for angiostatin or regulation of lipoprotein transport through high-affinity apolipoprotein A-I binding. In this study we evaluated the surface expression of this F1-ATPase on hematopoetic tumor cell lines and on primary tumor cells from hematological malignancies. As already shown, the a subunit of F1-ATPase was clearly detected on several tumor cell lines which are consistently killed by activated Vγ9Vδ2 T cells (Daudi, K562, RPMI 8226), whereas the known Vγ9Vδ2 T cell resistant tumor cell lines (Raji, Jurkat) did not express detectable levels of the F1-ATPase. Analysis of 42 primary hematopoetic tumor cells (21 myeloma, 17 AML, 4 B-NHL) revealed frequent expression of F1-ATPase on primary myeloma cells (14/19 positive), whereas primary AML blasts (3/17 positive) and primary NHL cells (1/4 positive) expressed the putative Vγ9Vδ2-TCR ligand F1-ATPase less frequently. To further evaluate the functional role of F1-ATPase expression in Vγ9Vδ2 T cell mediated recognition of myeloma cells, cytotoxicity assays were performed. The mAb against the a subunit of F1-ATPase significantly decreased in vitro lysis of myeloma cells lines and primary myeloma cells by activated Vγ9Vδ2 T cells. These results suggests Vγ9Vδ2 TCR-dependent interactions between myeloma cells and Vγ9Vδ2 T cells and indicate that multiple myeloma should be considered as a major target for γδ T-cell mediated immunotherapy.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 1843-1843 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeesun Park ◽  
Shi Zhong ◽  
Michelle Krogsgaard ◽  
Amitabha Mazumder

Abstract Abstract 1843 Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a cancer of plasma cells and the second most common blood cancer. Current treatment strategies such as high dose chemotherapy, autologous stem cell rescue, and allogeneic transplantation have improved response rates and increased survival. However, these treatments often include high procedure-related morbidity and mortality and can only be applied to a small minority of myeloma patients. Therefore, safe broadly applicable immunologic strategies for myeloma, such as Adoptive Cell Therapy (ACT) are urgently needed. Methods: In this study we focused on aHLA-A*0201-restricted cancer testis antigen MAGE-A3:112–120, which is widely expressed in many forms of cancers such as metastatic melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and MM, but not expressed in most normal tissues. To develop a system of effective strategies for T-cell therapy of multiple myeloma, we employed T-cell engineering technology using a MAGE-A3specific T-cell receptor (TCR)obtained from Dr. Steven Rosenberg at the National Cancer Institute. MAGE-A3 specific TCR was sub-cloned into a lentiviral vector and tranduced into purified CD8+ T-cells from human peripheral blood mononucleocytes (hPBMCs). To test the effector functionality of the MAGE-A3 specific TCR, the MAGE-A3 TCR-transduced CD8+ T-cells were subjected to cytokine release and chromium release assays after being co-cultured with MAGE-A3 peptide-loaded T2 cells, and U266 (MAGE-A3+/HLA-A*0201+), MM1.r (MAGE-A3+/HLA-A*0201-), KAS6 (MAGE-A3-/HLA-A*0201+), and KMS11(MAGE-A3-/HLA-A*0201-) MM tumor cell lines. Results: We observedcytokine production of INF-g and IL-2 in the MAGE-A3 TCR-transduced CD8+ T-cells generally in a dose-dependent manner to the MAGE-A3 peptide-loaded T2 cells. For example, the difference of INF-g secretion bythe MAGE-A3 TCR-transduced CD8+ T-cells wasa 10-fold increase from 0.001 uM to 0.02 uM of the loaded MAGE-A3 peptide. IL-2 secretion was also increasedby 7-fold from 0.001 uM to 0.1 uM of the MAGE-A3 peptide concentration. At 10uM of the peptide concentration, there was a 29-fold increase of the IL-2 production as compared to the 0.001 uM peptide concentration. Between 10uM and 100 uMof the peptide concentration, there was a decrease in IL-2 secretion by 2-fold, which is commonly observed at high peptide concentrations presumably due to cytotoxicity. Specific lysis of tumor cells by the MAGE-A3 TCR-transduced CD8+ T-cellswas observed in all four MM tumor cell lines, and we detected higher percentage of cell lysisin U266 (38%) and MM1.r (51%) cell lines as compared to the KAS6 (11%) and KMS11(21%) cell lines. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the MAGE-A3 TCR-engineered CD 8+ T-cells are able to specifically recognize MAGE-A3 antigen, produce IL-2 and IFN-g, and destroy MM tumor cells loaded with the MAGE-A3 antigen. This potentially could further translate into effective MAGE-A3 specific targeted tumor rejection in vivo. We also plan to transduce the MAGE-A3 TCR into hematopoietic stem cells to and test the effector function of those cells against MM tumor cells and eventually against MM patient samples. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Blood ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 120 (21) ◽  
pp. 4120-4120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Curran ◽  
Beatrijs Seinstra ◽  
Yan Nikhamin ◽  
Raymond Yeh ◽  
Yelena Usachenko ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 4120 T cells can be genetically modified to target tumor antigens through the expression of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). Recent reports have demonstrated the effectiveness of CAR modified T cells in patients with relapsed or refractory malignancies. However, CAR modified T cells have yet to demonstrate the ability to recruit an endogenous anti-tumor response which would greatly enhance their therapeutic benefit. To overcome these limitations we have developed a bi-cistronic gamma-retroviral vector allowing for constitutive co-expression of a CD19-specific CAR (19–28z) and human CD40 ligand (CD40L; CD154). The CD40 ligand/CD40 system has been demonstrated to activate dendritic cells (DCs) and alter the phenotype of B cells (upregulation of co-stimulatory and adhesion molecules and secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines) with subsequent stimulation of CD8+ T cell activation and proliferation. We now demonstrate T cells genetically modified to constitutively express CD40L undergo enhanced proliferation and up-regulated secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines including GM-CSF and INF-g. Furthermore, T cells modified to constitutively express CD40L, upon co-culture, will alter the phenotype of CD40+ B cell tumor cell lines by enhancing the expression co-stimulatory molecules (CD80/CD86), adhesion molecules (CD54/CD58/CD70) and death receptors (CD95; Fas). These findings were similarly evident in primary patient tumor samples (e.g. CLL cells) when co-cultured with autologous T cells modified to constitutively express CD40L. We further demonstrate maturation of monocyte derived DCs with subsequent secretion of IL-12 following co-culture with autologous T cells modified to constitutively express CD40L. T cells transduced with the bi-cistronic 19–28z/CD40L vector showed enhanced in vitro cytotoxicity against a panel of CD19+ tumor cell lines. Furthermore, infusion of 19–28z/CD40L modified T cells enhances the survival of CD19+ tumor bearing immunodeficient mice (SCID/Beige) when compared to mice treated with T cells modified to express the anti-CD19 19–28z CAR alone. We conclude that further genetic modification of CAR targeted T cells to constitutively express the co-stimulatory CD40L may enhance the anti-tumor efficacy of this adoptive T cell therapy. Our data suggests this enhanced T cell efficacy may be due to both autocrine and paracrine mediated mechanisms. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
mengyang zhang ◽  
dongxu lin ◽  
changcheng luo ◽  
pengyu wei ◽  
kai cui ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: RNA activation, as a method of regulating gene expression at the transcriptional level, is far less widely used than RNA interference because of the insufficient understanding of the mechanism and the unstable success rate. It is necessary to analyze the failure cases of RNA activation to promote the application of RNA activation. When we validated the saRNAs designed to induce KLK1 expression, we found that saKLK1-374 can up-regulate KLK1 expression in prostate tumor cell lines, but failed in normal prostate cell lines. In addition, we also found that saKLK1-374 inhibited the growth of prostate cancer cells, which seems to be the opposite of the function of KLK1. This article is about experimental research and analysis of these two issues.Methods: To determine whether the phenomenon that the RNA activation of normal cells is difficult to succeed is only valid when the target gene is KLK1, we used p21WAF1/CIP1 as the target gene to perform RNA activation experiments in normal prostate cells and prostate cancer cells. Next, to determine whether the above phenomenon exists in other tissues, we also performed RNA activation experiments with KLK1 and p21WAF1/CIP1 as target genes in normal cell lines and tumor cell lines derived from the bladder. We have also extended the time from transfection to the detection of target gene expression to evaluate whether a longer saRNA action time can change the phenomenon that saRNA fails to up-regulate target gene expression in normal cells. In terms of mechanism research, we used fluorescently labeled dsRNA to evaluate the transfection efficiency, and also detected the expression of Ago2 and IPO8 proteins. In another issue of saKLK1-374 inhibiting prostate cancer cells, we tested the ROS content and apoptosis levels of prostate cancer cells after saKLK1-374 transfection. We used recombinant KLK1 protein to directly interfere with prostate cancer cells as a positive control for KLK1 function research. In turn, we also used siRNA to inhibit the expression of KLK1 in prostate cancer cells to compare the growth of prostate cancer cells when KLK1 mRNA was up-regulated and reduced.Results: The p21WAF1/CIP1 gene could be significantly upregulated by saRNA in prostate cancer cell lines, but not in normal prostate cell lines. The expression of KLK1 in bladder-derived cell lines was extremely low and could not be induced by saRNA. The p21WAF1/CIP1 gene could be up-regulated by saRNA to a higher extent in bladder cancer cell lines, while it was up-regulated by saRNA in normal urothelial cell line to a lower extent. Prolonging the action time of saRNA could not change that saRNA failed to induce the expression of target genes in normal cell lines. Compared with tumor cell lines, normal cell lines had lower transfection efficiency or lower expression of Ago2 and IPO8. After being transfected with saKLK1-374, prostate cancer cells had increased ROS and increased levels of apoptosis. The recombinant KLK1 protein did not increase ROS in prostate cancer cells, nor did it inhibit their growth. Even though saKLK1-374 up-regulated the expression of KLK1 in prostate cancer cells, siRNA still suppressed the expression of KLK1 below the baseline level, and in this case, the growth of prostate cancer cells was still at a suppressed level.Conclusion: Normal cell lines may be more difficult to be successfully induced target gene expression than tumor cells due to low transfection efficiency or low Ago2 and IPO8 expression. In addition, although saKLK1-374 is designed to up-regulate the expression of KLK1, the reason that it inhibits the proliferation of prostate cancer cells is irrelevant to the up-regulated expression of KLK1.


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