Project description:Objective: Antigen-specific immunotherapy is a promising strategy to treat hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and (HBV-related) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To facilitate killing of malignant and/or infected hepatocytes, it is vital to know which T cell targets are presented by HLA-I complexes on patient-derived hepatocytes. Here, we aimed to reveal the hepatocyte-specific HLA-I peptidome with emphasis on peptides derived from HBV proteins and tumor associated antigens (TAAs) to guide development of antigen-specific immunotherapy. Design: Primary human hepatocytes were isolated with high purity from (HBV infected) non-tumor and HCC tissues using a newly designed perfusion-free procedure. Subsequently, hepatocyte-derived HLA-bound peptides were identified by mass spectrometry after which source proteins were subjected to gene ontology and pathway analysis. Finally, all HBV-antigen and TAA-derived HLA-peptides were extracted and a selection was tested for immunogenicity. Results: We acquired a high quality HLA-I peptidome of 2x105 peptides, of which source proteins were associated with hepatocyte function. Importantly, we demonstrated HLA-I presentation of HBV-derived and TAA-derived peptides for the first time in immune cell-depleted primary liver cell isolates. The peptidome included 8 HBV-derived peptides and 14 peptides from 8 known HCC-associated TAAs that were exclusively identified in tumor eluates. Of these, immunogenicity was demonstrated for 5 HBV-derived and 3 TAA-derived peptides. Conclusion: We present a first HLA-I immunopeptidome of isolated primary human hepatocytes, devoid of immune cells. Our results directly aid development of antigen-specific immunotherapy for HBV infection and HCC. Described methodology can also be applied to personalize immunotherapeutic treatment of liver diseases in the future.
Project description:We screened a number of interferon inducible genes that may be involved in impeding HBV replication and found an anti-HBV activity in ISG20. ISG20 is an IFN-inducible 3’- to 5’-exonuclease, that degrades DNA and RNA and reduces antigen production in hepatocyte-derived cells A range of candidate genes whose expression was dependent on type I IFN stimulation were identified by gene arrays
Project description:Most differentiation protocols for generation of hepatocyte-like cells from iPS cells generate cells with heterogenous expression of hepatic markers, which confounds results from liver disease models involving complex traits and subtle phenotypes We utilized proteomics to identify heptocyte-restricted cell surface proteins that mark a subpopulation of iPS cell derived hepatocytes. By performing microarray on FACS sorted cells, we demonstrate that subpopulation of hepatocyte-like cells expressing SLC10A1 are enriched for hepatic markers
Project description:We screened a number of interferon inducible genes that may be involved in impeding HBV replication and found an anti-HBV activity in ISG20. ISG20 is an IFN-inducible 3â??- to 5â??-exonuclease, that degrades DNA and RNA and reduces antigen production in hepatocyte-derived cells A range of candidate genes whose expression was dependent on type I IFN stimulation were identified by gene arrays Total RNA from CD8α+ DCs was extracted from mouse spleens 8h after polyI:C (50 μg) stimulation by RNeasyTM kit. Total RNA (10 μg) from each sample was used to prepare cRNA. Gene expression was analyzed with GeneChipTM
Project description:Hepatocytes isolated from DILI patient's liver (#2064) were cultured for a long term using irrMEF and EMUKK-05, and comprehensive gene expression was compared between Puromycin-treated and non-treated groups. In addition, comprehensive gene expression analysis of human mature hepatocytes, primary cultured cells, and ips cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells were performed as controls. Two-condition experiment, Proliferating hepatocytes (ProilHH) vs. puromycin-treated ProliHH. Primary human hepatocytes (PHH) and isolated humen mature hepatocytes (MH) and human iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells (HLC) as controls.