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Cancer immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer utilizing α-gal epitope/natural anti-Gal antibody reaction.

ABSTRACT: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has the poorest prognosis of all malignancies and is largely resistant to standard therapy. Novel treatments against PDAC are desperately needed. Anti-Gal is the most abundant natural antibody in humans, comprising about 1% of immunoglobulins and is also naturally produced in apes and Old World monkeys. The anti-Gal ligand is a carbohydrate antigen called "α-gal epitopes" with the structure Galα1-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R. These epitopes are expressed as major carbohydrate antigens in non-primate mammals, prosimians, and New World monkeys. Anti-Gal is exploited in cancer vaccines to increase the immunogenicity of antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Cancer cells or PDAC tumor lysates are processed to express α-gal epitopes. Vaccination with these components results in in vivo opsonization by anti-Gal IgG in PDAC patients. The Fc portion of the vaccine-bound anti-Gal interacts with Fcγ receptors of APCs, inducing uptake of the vaccine components, transport of the vaccine tumor membranes to draining lymph nodes, and processing and presentation of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs). Cancer vaccines expressing α-gal epitopes elicit strong antibody production against multiple TAAs contained in PDAC cells and induce activation of multiple tumor-specific T cells. Here, we review new areas of clinical importance related to the α-gal epitope/anti-Gal antibody reaction and the advantages in immunotherapy against PDAC.

SUBMITTER: Tanemura M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4616216 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The ?-Gal epitope (Gal?1,3Gal?1,4GlcNAc?R) is ubiquitously presented in non-primate mammals, marsupials and New World Monkeys, but it is absent in humans, apes and Old World monkeys. However, the anti-Gal antibody (~1% of immunoglobulins) is naturally generated in human, and is found as the immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgM and IgA isotypes. Owing to the specific binding of the anti?Gal antibody with the ??Gal epitope, humans have a distinct anti???gal reactivity, which is responsible for hyperacute rejection of organs transplanted from ??gal donors. In addition, the ?1,3 galactosyltransferases (?1,3GT) can catalyze the synthesis of the ??Gal epitope. Therefore, the ?1,3GT gene, which encodes the ?1,3GT, is developed profoundly. The distributions of the ??Gal epitope and anti?Gal antibody, and the activation of ?1,3GT, reveal that the enzyme of ?1,3GT in ancestral primates is ineffective. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the human ?1,3?GT pseudogene to the corresponding different species sequence, and according to the evolutionary tree of different species, the results of evolutionary inactivation of the ?1,3GT gene in ancestral primates attribute to the mutations under a stronger selective pressure. However, on the basis of the structure, the mechanism and the specificity of the ??Gal epitope and anti?Gal antibody, they can be applied to clinical exploitation. Knocking out the ?1,3GT gene will eliminate the xenoantigen, Gal(?1,3)Gal, so that the transplantation of ?1,3GT gene knockout pig organ into human becomes a potential clinically acceptable treatment for solving the problem of organ shortage. By contrast, the ??Gal epitope expressed through the application of chemical, biochemical and genetic engineering can be exploited for the clinical use. Targeting anti?Gal?mediated autologous tumor vaccines, which express ??Gal epitope to antigen?presenting cells, would increase their immunogenicity and elicit an immune response, which will be potent enough to eradicate the residual tumor cells. For tumor vaccines, the way of increasing immunogenicity of certain viral vaccines, including flu vaccines and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines, can also be used in the elderly. Recently, ??Gal epitope nanoparticles have been applied to accelerate wound healing and further directions on regeneration of internally injured tissues.

Project description:This review describes the significance of the α-gal epitope (Galα-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc-R) as the core of human blood-group A and B antigens (A and B antigens), determines in mouse models the principles underlying the immune response to these antigens, and suggests future strategies for the induction of immune tolerance to incompatible A and B antigens in human allografts. Carbohydrate antigens, such as ABO antigens and the α-gal epitope, differ from protein antigens in that they do not interact with T cells, but B cells interacting with them require T-cell help for their activation. The α-gal epitope is the core of both A and B antigens and is the ligand of the natural anti-Gal antibody, which is abundant in all humans. In A and O individuals, anti-Gal clones (called anti-Gal/B) comprise >85% of the so-called anti-B activity and bind to the B antigen in facets that do not include fucose-linked α1-2 to the core α-gal. As many as 1% of B cells are anti-Gal B cells. Activation of quiescent anti-Gal B cells upon exposure to α-gal epitopes on xenografts and some protozoa can increase the titer of anti-Gal by 100-fold. α1,3-Galactosyltransferase knockout (GT-KO) mice lack α-gal epitopes and can produce anti-Gal. These mice simulate human recipients of ABO-incompatible human allografts. Exposure for 2-4 weeks of naïve and memory mouse anti-Gal B cells to α-gal epitopes in the heterotopically grafted wild-type (WT) mouse heart results in the elimination of these cells and immune tolerance to this epitope. Shorter exposures of 7 days of anti-Gal B cells to α-gal epitopes in the WT heart result in the production of accommodating anti-Gal antibodies that bind to α-gal epitopes but do not lyse cells or reject the graft. Tolerance to α-gal epitopes due to the elimination of naïve and memory anti-Gal B cells can be further induced by 2 weeks in vivo exposure to WT lymphocytes or autologous lymphocytes engineered to present α-gal epitopes by transduction of the α1,3-galactosyltransferase gene. These mouse studies suggest that autologous human lymphocytes similarly engineered to present the A or B antigen may induce corresponding tolerance in recipients of ABO-incompatible allografts. The review further summarizes experimental works demonstrating the efficacy of α-gal therapies in amplifying anti-viral and anti-tumor immune-protection and regeneration of injured tissues.

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Cancer immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer utilizing α-gal epitope/natural anti-Gal antibody reaction.

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