Tumor-antigens and immune landscapes identification for prostate adenocarcinoma mRNA vaccine

AbstractProstate adenocarcinoma (PRAD) is a leading cause of death among men. Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine presents an attractive approach to achieve satisfactory outcomes; however, tumor antigen screening and vaccination candidates show a bottleneck in this field. We aimed to investigate the tumor antigens for mRNA vaccine development and immune subtypes for choosing appropriate patients for vaccination. We identified eight overexpressed and mutated tumor antigens with poor prognostic value of PRAD, including KLHL17, CPT1B, IQGAP3, LIME1, YJEFN3, KIAA1529, MSH5 and CELSR3. The correlation of those genes with antigen-presenting immune cells were assessed. We further identified three immune subtypes of PRAD (PRAD immune subtype [PIS] 1–3) with distinct clinical, molecular, and cellular characteristics. PIS1 showed better survival and immune cell infiltration, nevertheless, PIS2 and PIS3 showed cold tumor features with poorer prognosis and higher tumor genomic instability. Moreover, these immune subtypes presented distinguished association with immune checkpoints, immunogenic cell death modulators, and prognostic factors of PRAD. Furthermore, immune landscape characterization unraveled the immune heterogeneity among patients with PRAD. To summarize, our study suggests KLHL17, CPT1B, IQGAP3, LIME1, YJEFN3, KIAA1529, MSH5 and CELSR3 are potential antigens for PRAD mRNA vaccine development, and patients in the PIS2 and PIS3 groups are more suitable for vaccination.

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Identification of tumor antigens and immune subtypes of cholangiocarcinoma for mRNA vaccine development

Molecular Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12943-021-01342-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xing Huang ◽

Tianyu Tang ◽

Gang Zhang ◽

Tingbo Liang

Keyword(s):

Tumor Antigens ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Prognostic Index ◽

Antigen Presenting Cells ◽

Genetic Alterations ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Consensus Clustering ◽

Antigen Presenting

Abstract Background The mRNA-based cancer vaccine has been considered a promising strategy and the next hotspot in cancer immunotherapy. However, its application on cholangiocarcinoma remains largely uncharacterized. This study aimed to identify potential antigens of cholangiocarcinoma for development of anti-cholangiocarcinoma mRNA vaccine, and determine immune subtypes of cholangiocarcinoma for selection of suitable patients from an extremely heterogeneous population. Methods Gene expression profiles and corresponding clinical information were collected from GEO and TCGA, respectively. cBioPortal was used to visualize and compare genetic alterations. GEPIA2 was used to calculate the prognostic index of the selected antigens. TIMER was used to visualize the correlation between the infiltration of antigen-presenting cells and the expression of the identified antigens. Consensus clustering analysis was performed to identify the immune subtypes. Graph learning-based dimensionality reduction analysis was conducted to visualize the immune landscape of cholangiocarcinoma. Results Three tumor antigens, such as CD247, FCGR1A, and TRRAP, correlated with superior prognoses and infiltration of antigen-presenting cells were identified in cholangiocarcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma patients were stratified into two immune subtypes characterized by differential molecular, cellular and clinical features. Patients with the IS1 tumor had immune “hot” and immunosuppressive phenotype, whereas those with the IS2 tumor had immune “cold” phenotype. Interestingly, patients with the IS2 tumor had a superior survival than those with the IS1 tumor. Furthermore, distinct expression of immune checkpoints and immunogenic cell death modulators was observed between different immune subtype tumors. Finally, the immune landscape of cholangiocarcinoma revealed immune cell components in individual patient. Conclusions CD247, FCGR1A, and TRRAP are potential antigens for mRNA vaccine development against cholangiocarcinoma, specifically for patients with IS2 tumors. Therefore, this study provides a theoretical basis for the anti-cholangiocarcinoma mRNA vaccine and defines suitable patients for vaccination.

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Based on the identification of tumor antigens and immune subtypes in renal clear cell carcinoma for mRNA vaccine development

10.1101/2021.07.04.451033 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shichao Zhang ◽

Yu Xiong ◽

Shijing Kang ◽

Chengju Mao ◽

Yue Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tumor Antigens ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Hot Spot ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Prognostic Index ◽

Gene Expression Profiles ◽

Genetic Alterations ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Consensus Clustering ◽

Antigen Presenting

Background: Cancer vaccine based on mRNA is considered as a promising strategy and has become a new hot spot in cancer immunotherapy. However, its application to KIRC is not clear. A growing body of research has shown that immunotyping can reflect the comprehensive immune status and immune microenvironment of tumor, which is closely related to treatment response and vaccination potential. The aim of this study was to identify the potential antigens of KIRC for the development of anti- KIRC mRNA vaccines, and to further differentiate the immune subtypes of KIRC to construct an immune landscape for the selection of appropriate patients for vaccination. Methods: Gene expression profiles and corresponding clinical information of 265 KIRC patients and RNA-seq data of 539 KIRC patients were retrieved from were collected from GEO and TCGA. cBioPortal was used to visualize and compare genetic alterations, while GEPIA2 was used to calculate the prognostic index of selected antigens. The relationship between the infiltration of antigen presenting cells and the expression of the identified antigen was visualized with TIMER, and consensus clustering analysis was used to determine the immune subtypes. Finally, the immune landscape of KIRC is visualized through the dimensionality reduction analysis based on graph learning. Results: Two tumor antigens associated with prognostic and antigen-presenting infiltrating cells were identified in KIRC, including LRP2, and DOCK8. KIRC patients were classified into six immune subtypes based on different molecular, cellular, and clinical characteristics. Patients with IS5 and IS6 tumors had an immune "hot" and immunosuppressive phenotype, which was associated with better survival compared to other subtypes, whereas patients with IS1-4 tumors had an immune "cold" phenotype, which was associated with a higher tumor mutation burden. In addition, the expression of immune checkpoints and immunogenic cell death modulators differed significantly in different immunosubtypes of tumors. Finally, the immune landscape of KIRC shows a high degree of heterogeneity across patients. Conclusions: LRP2 and FEM2 are potential KIRC antigens for mRNA vaccine development, and patients with immune subtypes IS1-4 are suitable for vaccination.

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Tumor antigens and immune subtypes guided mRNA vaccine development for kidney renal clear cell carcinoma

Molecular Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12943-021-01465-w ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hang Xu ◽

Xiaonan Zheng ◽

Shiyu Zhang ◽

Xianyanling Yi ◽

Tianyi Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Carcinoma ◽

Topoisomerase Ii ◽

Tumor Antigens ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Clear Cell Carcinoma ◽

Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma ◽

Survival Outcomes ◽

Topoisomerase Ii Alpha

AbstractCurrent treatment strategy for kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) is limited. Tumor-associated antigens, especially neoantigen-based personalized mRNA vaccines represent new strategies and manifest clinical benefits in solid tumors, but only a small proportion of patients could benefit from them, which prompts us to identify effective antigens and suitable populations to facilitate mRNA vaccines application in cancer therapy. Through performing expression, mutation, survival and correlation analyses in TCGA-KIRC dataset, we identified four genes including DNA topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), neutrophil cytosol factor 4 (NCF4), formin-like protein 1 (FMNL1) and docking protein 3 (DOK3) as potential KIRC-specific neoantigen candidates. These four genes were upregulated, mutated and positively associated with survival and antigen-presenting cells in TCGA-KIRC. Furthermore, we identified two immune subtypes, named renal cell carcinoma immune subtype 1 (RIS1) and RIS2, of KIRC. Distinct clinical, molecular and immune-related signatures were observed between RIS1 and RIS2. Patients of RIS2 had better survival outcomes than those of RIS1. Further comprehensive immune-related analyses indicated that RIS1 is immunologically “hot” and represent an immunosuppressive phenotype, whereas RIS2 represents an immunologically “cold” phenotype. RIS1 and RIS2 also showed differential features with regard to tumor infiltrating immune cells and immune checkpoint-related genes. Moreover, the immune landscape construction identified the immune cell components of each KIRC patient, predicted their survival outcomes, and assisted the development of personalized mRNA vaccines. In summary, our study identified TOP2A, NCF4, FMNL1 and DOK3 as potential effective neoantigens for KIRC mRNA vaccine development, and patients with RIS2 tumor might benefit more from mRNA vaccination.

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Immune cell-specific Cre reporter mouse labels a subset of CNS neurons

10.1101/833194 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Aurélie Bouteau ◽

Botond Z. Igyártó

Keyword(s):

Immune Cells ◽

Langerhans Cells ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Neuronal Marker ◽

Reporter Mouse ◽

Cns Neurons ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

Antigen Presenting

AbstractHuLangerin-Cre-YFPf/f mice were generated to specifically mark a subset of antigen presenting immune cells, called Langerhans cells (LCs). During histological characterization of these mice, we found that, in addition to LCs an uncharacterized cell population in the central nervous system (CNS) also expressed YFP. In this study, we found that the CNS YFP+ cells were negative for microglia and astrocyte markers, but they expressed mature neuronal marker NeuN and showed neuronal localization/morphology. Thus, these mice might be used to study the ontogeny, migration and the role of a subset of CNS neurons.

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Identification of the Prognosis Value and Potential Mechanism of Immune Checkpoints in Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma Microenvironment

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2021.720125 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 ◽

Author(s):

Guodong Liao ◽

Ping Wang ◽

Yuyong Wang

Keyword(s):

Immune Checkpoint ◽

Prognostic Value ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Clear Cell ◽

Clear Cell Carcinoma ◽

Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Immune Cell Infiltration ◽

Free Survival ◽

Checkpoint Genes

BackgroundKidney Renal Clear Cell Carcinoma (KIRC) is one of the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide. KIRC has a poor prognosis and, to date, immunotherapy based on immune checkpoints is the most promising treatment. However, the role of immune checkpoints in KIRC remains ambiguous.MethodsBioinformatics analyses and qRT-PCR were performed to explore and further confirm the prognostic value of immune checkpoint genes and their correlation with immune infiltration in KIRC samples.ResultsThe expression of the immune checkpoint genes CD274, PDCD1LG2, HAVCR2, CTLA4, TIGFT, LAG3, and PDCD1 was upregulated in KIRC tissues. These genes were involved in the activation of the apoptosis pathway in KIRC. Low expression of CD274 and HAVCR2 and high expression of CTLA4 were associated with poor overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) of KIRC patients. The univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that CTLA4, HAVCR2, age, pTNM stage, and tumor grade were independent factors affecting the prognosis of KIRC patients. A predictive nomogram demonstrated that the calibration plots for the 3‐year and 5‐year OS probabilities showed good agreement compared to the actual OS of KIRC patients. The expression of CTLA4 and HAVCR2 were positively associated with immune cell infiltration, immune biomarkers, chemokines, and chemokine receptors. Moreover, miR-20b-5p was identified as a potential miRNA target of CTLA4 in KIRC.ConclusionOur study clarified the prognostic value of several immune checkpoint regulators in KIRC, revealing a CTLA4/miR-20b-5p axis in the control of immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment.

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The prognostic value of a tumor microenvironment-based immune cell infiltration score model in colon cancer

10.21203/rs.3.rs-496500/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaofen Pan ◽

Xingkui Tang ◽

Minling Liu ◽

Xijun Luo ◽

Mengyuan Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Colon Cancer ◽

Signaling Pathway ◽

Immune Cells ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Prognostic Value ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Wnt Signaling Pathway ◽

Mapk Signaling ◽

Cell Infiltration ◽

Immune Cell Infiltration

Abstract BackgroundTumor microenvironment consists of tumor cells, immune cells and other matric components. Tumor infiltration immune cells are associated with prognosis. But all the current prognosis evaluation system dose not take tumor immune cells other matrix component into consideration. In the current study, we aimed to construct a prognosis predictive model based on tumor microenvironment.MethodCIBERSORT and ESTIMATE algorithms were used to reveal the immune cell infiltration landscape of colon cancer. Patients were classified into three clusters by ConsensusClusterPlus algorithm. Immune cell infiltration (ICI) scores of each patient were determine by principal-component analysis. Patients were divided to high and low ICI score groups. Survival, gene expression and somatic mutation of the two groups were compared.ResultsPatients with no lymph node invasion, no metastasis, T1-2 disease and stage I-II had higher ICI scores. Calcium signaling pathway, leukocyte transendothelial migration pathway, MAPK signaling pathway, TGF β pathway, and WNT signaling pathway were enriched in high ICI score group. Immune-checkpoint genes and immune-activity associated genes were significantly decreased in high ICI score. Patients in high ICI score group had better survival than low ICI score group. Prognostic value of ICI score was independent of TMB.ConclusionICI score might serve as an independent prognostic biomarker in colon cancer.

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Dissecting Tumor Antigens and Immune Subtypes of Glioma to Develop mRNA Vaccine

Frontiers in Immunology ◽

10.3389/fimmu.2021.709986 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Hua Zhong ◽

Shuai Liu ◽

Fang Cao ◽

Yi Zhao ◽

Jianguo Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Tumor Antigens ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Prognostic Index ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Consensus Clustering ◽

Rna Seq ◽

Vaccine Treatment ◽

Glioma Antigens ◽

Antigen Presenting

BackgroundNowadays, researchers are leveraging the mRNA-based vaccine technology used to develop personalized immunotherapy for cancer. However, its application against glioma is still in its infancy. In this study, the applicable candidates were excavated for mRNA vaccine treatment in the perspective of immune regulation, and suitable glioma recipients with corresponding immune subtypes were further investigated.MethodsThe RNA-seq data and clinical information of 702 and 325 patients were recruited from TCGA and CGGA, separately. The genetic alteration profile was visualized and compared by cBioPortal. Then, we explored prognostic outcomes and immune correlations of the selected antigens to validate their clinical relevance. The prognostic index was measured via GEPIA2, and infiltration of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) was calculated and visualized by TIMER. Based on immune-related gene expression, immune subtypes of glioma were identified using consensus clustering analysis. Moreover, the immune landscape was visualized by graph learning-based dimensionality reduction analysis.ResultsFour glioma antigens, namely ANXA5, FKBP10, MSN, and PYGL, associated with superior prognoses and infiltration of APCs were selected. Three immune subtypes IS1–IS3 were identified, which fundamentally differed in molecular, cellular, and clinical signatures. Patients in subtypes IS2 and IS3 carried immunologically cold phenotypes, whereas those in IS1 carried immunologically hot phenotype. Particularly, patients in subtypes IS3 and IS2 demonstrated better outcomes than that in IS1. Expression profiles of immune checkpoints and immunogenic cell death (ICD) modulators showed a difference among IS1–IS3 tumors. Ultimately, the immune landscape of glioma elucidated considerable heterogeneity not only between individual patients but also within the same immune subtype.ConclusionsANXA5, FKBP10, MSN, and PYGL are identified as potential antigens for anti-glioma mRNA vaccine production, specifically for patients in immune subtypes 2 and 3. In summary, this study may shed new light on the promising approaches of immunotherapy, such as devising mRNA vaccination tailored to applicable glioma recipients.

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Role of Immune Cell-Specific Hypermethylation Signatures in Classification and Risk Stratification of Breast Cancer

Frontiers in Medicine ◽

10.3389/fmed.2021.674338 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Yong Chen ◽

Fada Xia ◽

Bo Jiang ◽

Wenlong Wang ◽

Xinying Li

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Risk Stratification ◽

Immune Cells ◽

Prediction Accuracy ◽

Prognostic Value ◽

Clinical Characteristics ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Cell Types ◽

Clinical Model

Background: Epigenetic regulation, including DNA methylation, plays a major role in shaping the identity and function of immune cells. Innate and adaptive immune cells recruited into tumor tissues contribute to the formation of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), which is closely involved in tumor progression in breast cancer (BC). However, the specific methylation signatures of immune cells have not been thoroughly investigated yet. Additionally, it remains unknown whether immune cells-specific methylation signatures can identify subgroups and stratify the prognosis of BC patients.Methods: DNA methylation profiles of six immune cell types from eight datasets downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus were collected to identify immune cell-specific hypermethylation signatures (IC-SHMSs). Univariate and multivariate cox regression analyses were performed using BC data obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas to identify the prognostic value of these IC-SHMSs. An unsupervised clustering analysis of the IC-SHMSs with prognostic value was performed to categorize BC patients into subgroups. Multiple Cox proportional hazard models were constructed to explore the role of IC-SHMSs and their relationship to clinical characteristics in the risk stratification of BC patients. Integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) was performed to determine whether the improvement of IC-SHMSs on clinical characteristics in risk stratification was statistically significant.Results: A total of 655 IC-SHMSs of six immune cell types were identified. Thirty of them had prognostic value, and 10 showed independent prognostic value. Four subgroups of BC patients, which showed significant heterogeneity in terms of survival prognosis and immune landscape, were identified. The model incorporating nine IC-SHMSs showed similar survival prediction accuracy as the clinical model incorporating age and TNM stage [3-year area under the curve (AUC): 0.793 vs. 0.785; 5-year AUC: 0.735 vs. 0.761]. Adding the IC-SHMSs to the clinical model significantly improved its prediction accuracy in risk stratification (3-year AUC: 0.897; 5-year AUC: 0.856). The results of IDI validated the statistical significance of the improvement (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Our study suggests that IC-SHMSs may serve as signatures of classification and risk stratification in BC. Our findings provide new insights into epigenetic signatures, which may help improve subgroup identification, risk stratification, and treatment management.

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Epigenetic Modifiers: Anti-Neoplastic Drugs With Immunomodulating Potential

Frontiers in Immunology ◽

10.3389/fimmu.2021.652160 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Ken Maes ◽

Anna Mondino ◽

Juan José Lasarte ◽

Xabier Agirre ◽

Karin Vanderkerken ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cancer Cells ◽

Immune Evasion ◽

Cell Biology ◽

Tumor Antigens ◽

Immune Cell ◽

Peripheral Tolerance ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Host Immune System ◽

Innate Defense ◽

Cell Functions

Cancer cells are under the surveillance of the host immune system. Nevertheless, a number of immunosuppressive mechanisms allow tumors to escape protective responses and impose immune tolerance. Epigenetic alterations are central to cancer cell biology and cancer immune evasion. Accordingly, epigenetic modulating agents (EMAs) are being exploited as anti-neoplastic and immunomodulatory agents to restore immunological fitness. By simultaneously acting on cancer cells, e.g. by changing expression of tumor antigens, immune checkpoints, chemokines or innate defense pathways, and on immune cells, e.g. by remodeling the tumor stroma or enhancing effector cell functionality, EMAs can indeed overcome peripheral tolerance to transformed cells. Therefore, combinations of EMAs with chemo- or immunotherapy have become interesting strategies to fight cancer. Here we review several examples of epigenetic changes critical for immune cell functions and tumor-immune evasion and of the use of EMAs in promoting anti-tumor immunity. Finally, we provide our perspective on how EMAs could represent a game changer for combinatorial therapies and the clinical management of cancer.

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Identification of tumor antigens and immune subtypes of pancreatic adenocarcinoma for mRNA vaccine development

Molecular Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12943-021-01310-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xing Huang ◽

Gang Zhang ◽

Tianyu Tang ◽

Tingbo Liang

Keyword(s):

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma ◽

Tumor Antigens ◽

Vaccine Development ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Gene Expression Profiles ◽

Clinical Information ◽

Genetic Alterations ◽

Immune Checkpoints ◽

Immune Gene ◽

Mutation Burden

Abstract Background Although mRNA vaccines have been effective against multiple cancers, their efficacy against pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) remains undefined. Accumulating evidence suggests that immunotyping can indicate the comprehensive immune status in tumors and their immune microenvironment, which is closely associated with therapeutic response and vaccination potential. The aim of this study was to identify potent antigens in PAAD for mRNA vaccine development, and further distinguish immune subtypes of PAAD to construct an immune landscape for selecting suitable patients for vaccination. Methods Gene expression profiles and clinical information of 239 PAAD datasets were extracted from ICGC, and RNA-Seq data of 103 samples were retrieved from TCGA. GEPIA was used to calculate differential expression levels and prognostic indices, cBioPortal program was used to compare genetic alterations, and TIMER was used to explore correlation between genes and immune infiltrating cells. Consensus cluster was used for consistency matrix construction and data clustering, DAVID was used for functional annotation, and graph learning-based dimensional reduction was used to depict immune landscape. Results Six overexpressed and mutated tumor antigens associated with poor prognosis and infiltration of antigen presenting cells were identified in PAAD, including ADAM9, EFNB2, MET, TMOD3, TPX2, and WNT7A. Furthermore, five immune subtypes (IS1-IS5) and nine immune gene modules of PAAD were identified that were consistent in both patient cohorts. The immune subtypes showed distinct molecular, cellular and clinical characteristics. IS1 and IS2 exhibited immune-activated phenotypes and correlated to better survival compared to the other subtypes. IS4 and IS5 tumors were immunologically cold and associated with higher tumor mutation burden. Immunogenic cell death modulators, immune checkpoints, and CA125 and CA199, were also differentially expressed among the five immune subtypes. Finally, the immune landscape of PAAD showed a high degree of heterogeneity between individual patients. Conclusions ADAM9, EFNB2, MET, TMOD3, TPX2, and WNT7A are potent antigens for developing anti-PAAD mRNA vaccine, and patients with IS4 and IS5 tumors are suitable for vaccination.

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