Generation and characterization of HLA-A2 transgenic mice expressing the human TCR 1G4 specific for the HLA-A2 restricted NY-ESO-1157-165 tumor-specific peptide

BackgroundNY-ESO-1 is a tumor-specific, highly immunogenic, human germ cell antigen of the MAGE-1 family that is a promising vaccine and cell therapy candidate in clinical trial development. The mouse genome does not encode an NY-ESO-1 homolog thereby not subjecting transgenic T-cells to thymic tolerance mechanisms that might impair in-vivo studies. We hypothesized that an NY-ESO-1 T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mouse would provide the unique opportunity to study avidity of TCR response against NY-ESO-1 for tumor vaccine and cellular therapy development against this clinically relevant and physiological human antigen.MethodsTo study in vitro and in vivo the requirements for shaping an effective T cell response against the clinically relevant NY-ESO-1, we generated a C57BL/6 HLA-A*0201 background TCR transgenic mouse encoding the 1G4 TCR specific for the human HLA-A2 restricted, NY-ESO-1157-165 SLLMWITQC (9C), initially identified in an NY-ESO-1 positive melanoma patient.ResultsThe HLA-A*0201 restricted TCR was positively selected on both CD4+ and CD8+ cells. Mouse 1G4 T cells were not activated by endogenous autoimmune targets or a large library of non-cognate viral antigens. In contrast, their activation by HLA-A2 NY-ESO-1157-165 complexes was evident by proliferation, CD69 upregulation, interferon-γ production, and interleukin-2 production, and could be tuned using a twofold higher affinity altered peptide ligand, NY-ESO-1157-165V. NY-ESO-1157-165V recombinant vaccination of syngeneic mice adoptively transferred with m1G4 CD8+ T cells controlled tumor growth in vivo. 1G4 transgenic mice suppressed growth of syngeneic methylcholanthrene (MCA) induced HHD tumor cells expressing the full-length human NY-ESO-1 protein but not MCA HHD tumor cells lacking NY-ESO-1.ConclusionsThe 1G4 TCR mouse model for the physiological human TCR against the clinically relevant antigen, NY-ESO-1, is a valuable tool with the potential to accelerate clinical development of NY-ESO-1-targeted T-cell and vaccine therapies.

Opposing effects of T cell receptor signal strength on CD4 T cells responding to acute versus chronic viral infection

A hallmark of adaptive immunity is CD4 T cells’ ability to differentiate into specialized effectors. A long-standing question is whether T cell receptor (TCR) signal strength can dominantly instruct the development of Th1 and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells across distinct infectious contexts. We characterized the differentiation of murine CD4 TCR transgenic T cells responding to altered peptide ligand lymphocytic choriomeningitis viruses (LCMV) derived from acute and chronic parental strains. We found that TCR signal strength exerts opposite and hierarchical effects on the balance of Th1 and Tfh cells responding to acute versus persistent infection. TCR signal strength correlates positively with Th1 generation during acute but negatively during chronic infection. Weakly activated T cells express lower levels of markers associated with chronic T cell stimulation and may resist functional inactivation. We anticipate that the panel of recombinant viruses described herein will be valuable for investigating a wide range of CD4 T cell responses.

608 Immunodominant listeria epitopes compete with vaccine-directed cd8+ t-cell responses rescued by peptide-MHC stabilizing modifications

BackgroundThe Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a promising vector for cancer immunotherapy due to its ability to directly infect antigen-presenting cells, induce potent CD8+ T-cell immunity, and remodel immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments.1 Recent clinical trials have demonstrated safety and immunogenicity of Lm-based cancer vaccines in lung, cervical, pancreatic, and other cancers. In colorectal cancer, the transmembrane receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GUCY2C) is an emerging target for immunotherapy.2 Here, we examined the immunogenicity of a recombinant strain of Listeria monocytogenes secreting GUCY2C (Lm-GUCY2C). Surprisingly, Lm-GUCY2C vaccination induced robust Lm-specific CD8+ T-cell immunity but failed to prime GUCY2C-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. These studies explore the hypothesis that immunodominant Lm antigens suppress primary immunity to subdominant GUCY2C epitopes in Lm-GUCY2CMethodsLm-GUCY2C expresses the extracellular domain of mouse GUCY2C23-429 downstream of an ActA promoter integrated into the genome of the live, attenuated delta actA delta inlB Lm strain. Altered peptide ligands were designed based on NetMHCpan 4.0 peptide-MHC binding algorithms and similarly cloned into Lm. Peptide-MHC class I complex stability was quantified by FACS-based surface peptide-MHC dissociation on the TAP-deficient cell line, RMA-S H-2Kd.3In vivo efficacy studies employed IFNγ-ELISpot quantification of T-cell responses and tumor challenge studies with the CT26 colorectal cancer cell line. Adenovirus expressing GUCY2C was used as a positive control.2 4ResultsLm-GUCY2C vaccination of BALB/c mice generated Lm-specific CD8+ T-cell responses but an absence of GUCY2C-specific immunity. Peptide-MHC stability studies revealed poor stability of the dominant GUCY2C254-262 epitope complexed with H-2Kd compared to H-2Kd-restricted Lm epitopes derived from the LLO and p60 Lm antigens. Mutation of the GUCY2C254-262 peptide at critical anchoring residues for binding H-2Kd revealed that the altered peptide ligand with an F255Y mutation significantly improved the stability of the GUCY2C254-262-H-2Kd complex. Similarly, vaccination of mice with recombinant Lm-GUCY2C expressing the altered peptide ligand (Lm-GUCY2CF255Y) restored GUCY2C immunogenicity and antitumor immunity.ConclusionsImmunodominant Lm antigens may interfere with immune responses directed to the vaccine target antigen GUCY2C by competing with GUCY2C epitope for MHC class I binding and presentation. Moreover, use of a substituted GUCY2C -peptide ligand with enhanced peptide-MHC class I stability restored GUCY2C-specific immunity in the context of Lm-GUCY2C, an approach that can be translated to patients. Importantly, these studies also suggest that ongoing Lm-based vaccine development programs targeting a variety of antigens in other cancer types may be similarly limited by the immunodominance of Lm epitopes.AcknowledgementsThe authors thank Dr. Peter Lauer for providing the pPL2 integration vector used in cloning Lm-GUCY2C and Dr. Sean Murphy for providing the RMA-S H-2Kd cell line.Ethics ApprovalStudies were approved by the Thomas Jefferson University IACUC (Protocol # 01956).ReferencesFlickinger JC, Rodeck U, Snook AE. Listeria monocytogenes as a Vector for Cancer Immunotherapy: Current Understanding and Progress. Vaccines (Basel) 2018;6. doi:10.3390/vaccines6030048.Snook AE, Baybutt TR, Xiang B, Abraham TS, Flickinger JC, Hyslop T, et al. Split tolerance permits safe Ad5-GUCY2C-PADRE vaccine-induced T-cell responses in colon cancer patients. J Immunother Cancer 2019;7:104. doi:10.1186/s40425-019-0576-2.Müllbacher A, Lobigs M, Kos FJ, Langman R. Alloreactive cytotoxic T-cell function, peptide nonspecific. Scand J Immunol 1999;49:563–9.Flickinger J. JC, Singh J, Carlson R, Leong E, Baybutt T, Barton J, et al. Chimeric Ad5.F35 vector evades anti-adenovirus serotype 5 neutralization opposing GUCY2C-targeted antitumor immunity. J Immunother Cancer 2020.

Functional Recognition by CD8+ T Cells of Epitopes with Amino Acid Variations Outside Known MHC Anchor or T Cell Receptor Recognition Residues

Peptide-based vaccines can be safer and more cost effective than whole organism vaccines. Previous studies have shown that inorganic polystyrene nanoparticles (PSNPs) covalently conjugated to the minimal immunodominant peptide epitope from murine liver stage malaria (SYIPSAEKI) induced potent CD8+ T cell responses. Many pathogens, including malaria, have polymorphic T cell epitope regions. Amino acid changes in positions that are contact residues for the T cell receptor (TCR) often alter the specific cross-reactivity induced by the peptide antigen, and it is largely assumed that changes outside of these residues have little impact. Herein, each amino acid residue (except major histocompatibility complex (MHC) anchors) was systematically changed to an alanine. Peptide epitopes with altered amino acids outside T cell contact residues were still recognized by T cells induced by PSNPs-SYIPSAEKI (KI) vaccines, albeit at lower levels, except for the variant SYIPSAAKI (A7). PSNPs-SYIPSAAKI vaccines further elicited high responses to the index KI peptide. None of the epitopes displayed altered peptide ligand (APL) antagonism in vitro, and re-stimulating SYIPSAEKI and SYIPSAAKI together synergistically enhanced IFN-γ production by the T cells. These results show epitope variation in non-TCR recognition residues can have effects on T cell reactivity, suggesting that such natural variation may also be driven by immune pressure. Additionally, when re-modelling peptides to enhance the cross-reactivity of vaccines, both TCR recognition and non-recognition residues should be considered.

Tuning antiviral CD8 T-cell response via proline-altered peptide ligand vaccination

Viral escape from CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses correlates with disease progression and represents a significant challenge for vaccination. Here, we demonstrate that CD8+ T cell recognition of the naturally occurring MHC-I-restricted LCMV-associated immune escape variant Y4F is restored following vaccination with a proline-altered peptide ligand (APL). The APL increases MHC/peptide (pMHC) complex stability, rigidifies the peptide and facilitates T cell receptor (TCR) recognition through reduced entropy costs. Structural analyses of pMHC complexes before and after TCR binding, combined with biophysical analyses, revealed that although the TCR binds similarly to all complexes, the p3P modification alters the conformations of a very limited amount of specific MHC and peptide residues, facilitating efficient TCR recognition. This approach can be easily introduced in peptides restricted to other MHC alleles, and can be combined with currently available and future vaccination protocols in order to prevent viral immune escape.Author SummaryViral escape mutagenesis correlates often with disease progression and represents a major hurdle for vaccination-based therapies. Here, we have designed and developed a novel generation of altered epitopes that re-establish and enhance significantly CD8+ T cell recognition of a naturally occurring viral immune escape variant. Biophysical and structural analyses provide a clear understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this reestablished recognition. We believe that this approach can be implemented to currently available or novel vaccination approaches to efficiently restore T cell recognition of virus escape variants to control disease progression.

Design of Linear and Cyclic Mutant Analogues of Dirucotide Peptide (MBP82–98) against Multiple Sclerosis: Conformational and Binding Studies to MHC Class II

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system. MS is a T cell-mediated disease characterized by the proliferation, infiltration, and attack of the myelin sheath by immune cells. Previous studies have shown that cyclization provides molecules with strict conformation that could modulate the immune system. Methods: In this study, we synthesized peptide analogues derived from the myelin basic protein (MBP)82–98 encephalitogenic sequence (dirucotide), the linear altered peptide ligand MBP82–98 (Ala91), and their cyclic counterparts. Results: The synthesized peptides were evaluated for their binding to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DR2 and HLA-DR4 alleles, with cyclic MBP82–98 being a strong binder with the HLA-DR2 allele and having lower affinity binding to the HLA-DR4 allele. In a further step, conformational analyses were performed using NMR spectroscopy in solution to describe the conformational space occupied by the functional amino acids of both linear and cyclic peptide analogues. This structural data, in combination with crystallographic data, were used to study the molecular basis of their interaction with HLA-DR2 and HLA-DR4 alleles. Conclusion: The cyclic and APL analogues of dirucotide are promising leads that should be further evaluated for their ability to alter T cell responses for therapeutic benefit against MS.