Project description:Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone sarcoma. About 50% of patients develop metastatic disease and their 5-year survival lingers at around 20-30%. T cell checkpoint blockade immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment in the last decade, but their impact remains limited in osteosarcoma. In order to reveal potentially novel immunotherapeutic strategies for advanced osteosarcoma, we conducted an immunogenomic characterization of a unique sample set comprising multiple osteosarcoma samples from seven patients, collected throughout the progression of the disease. We performed RNA-sequencing and imaging mass cytometry analysis on those samples to reveal the immunological landscape during osteosarcoma progression. Transcriptional and phenotypical hallmarks of cytotoxic T cell-driven anti-cancer immunity were enriched in metastatic lesions as compared to primary tumors. In parallel, we found a pronounced increase in the expression of cancer testis antigens, particularly MAGEA-related antigens, in osteosarcoma metastases. Their overexpression in metastatic lesions was confirmed at protein level and positive expression of MAGEA3 in primary tumors showed a significant association with metastasis free survival. Importantly, we demonstrated the presentation of MAGE-derived peptides in three osteosarcoma cell lines. These findings indicate a concurrent augmentation of cytotoxic anti-tumor immune responses and expression of MAGEA antigens from primary to metastatic osteosarcoma. This observation warrants the exploration of MAGEA antigens as potential targets for immunotherapy in the treatment of advanced osteosarcoma.
Project description:Despite the development of diagnostic and advanced treatment strategies, the prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma remains poor. A limited understanding of the pathogenesis of osteosarcomas has impeded any improvement in patient outcomes over the past 4 decades. It is thus urgent to identify novel effective targets and treatment regimens for osteosarcoma patients. In this study we delineated the super-enhancer landscape in osteosarcoma cells on the basis of H3K27ac signal intensity by ChIP-Seq and found that super-enhancer-associated genes contribute to the malignant potential of osteosarcoma. THZ2, a novel small molecular inhibitor, shows a powerful anti-osteosarcoma ability through suppress super-enhancer-associated genes selectively. Utilizing the characteristics of super-enhancers in cancer cells, we identified 5 critical super-enhancer-associated oncogenes. With the comparative and retrospective analysis in large numbers of human specimens from patients, these 5 oncogenes were observed closely related with patient prognosis. Our findings determined that targeting super-enhancer-associated oncogenes with transcriptional inhibitor, THZ2, was a promising therapeutic strategy in osteosarcoma, and provided novel candidate targets for patients with osteosarcoma.
Project description:Background: Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are an extensive gene family with a unique expression pattern restricted to testis tissues, but aberrantly high expressed in a variety of cancer tissues. In view of this, CTAs are typically considered as efficient biomarkers and targets of immunotherapy. However, limited information is available regarding CTAs as immunotherapeutic targets for gastric cancer (GC) patients. Herein, we evaluated the expression levels of CTAs in both Eastern and Western GC patients and elucidate the expression pattern and functions of a novel CTAs.
Project description:Immunotherapy remains underexploited in AML compared to other hematological malignancies. Currently, gemtuzumab ozogamicin is the only therapeutic antibody approved for this disease. To identify potential targets for immunotherapeutic intervention, we analyzed the surface proteome of 100 genetically diverse primary human AML specimens for the identification of cell surface proteins and conducted single-cell transcriptome analysis on a subset of these specimens to assess antigen expression at the sub-population level. Through this comprehensive effort, we successfully identified numerous antigens and markers preferentially expressed by primitive AML cells. Many identified antigens are targeted by therapeutic antibodies currently under clinical evaluation for various cancer types, highlighting the potential therapeutic value of the approach. Importantly, this initiative led to the uncovering of AML heterogeneity at the surfaceome level, identifying several antigens and potential LSC markers characterising AML subgroups and positioning immunotherapy as a promising approach to target AML subgroup specificities.
Project description:Persistent therapy-resistant leukemia progenitor cells (LPC) are a main cause of disease relapse and recurrence in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Specific LPC-targeting therapies may thus improve treatment outcome of AML patients. We demonstrated that LPCs present human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted cancer antigens that induce T cell responses allowing for immune surveillance of AML. Using a mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics approach, we characterized the antigenic landscape of patient LPCs and identified AML/LPC-associated HLA-presented antigens including mutation-derived and cryptic neoepitopes as prime targets for development of T cell-based immunotherapeutic approaches. We observed frequent spontaneous memory T cells targeting these AML/LPC-associated antigens in AML patients and showed that antigen-specific T cell recognition and HLA class II immunopeptidome diversity impacts clinical outcome. Our results pave the way for implementation of AML/LPC-associated antigens for T cell-based immunotherapeutic approaches to specifically target and eliminate residual LPCs in AML patients.
Project description:Despite recent advances, the poor outcomes in osteosarcoma suggest that novel therapeutic targets are needed. Karyopherin alpha 2 (KPNA2) is a nuclear import factor, which functions as an oncogene in many cancers. However, the role of KPNA2 in osteosarcoma and its mechanism of action are still unclear. To identify gene signatures that play a role in metastasis, we performed RNA-Seq of gene expression profiling on U2OS cells treated with siKPNA2 and siNC (in triplicate for each group).
Project description:Osteosarcoma (OS)is a rare primary malignant bone tumor in adolescents and children with a poor prognosis. Identification of prognostic genes lags far behind the advance of the treatments. We identified differential genes by microarray analysis from paired OS tissues. Hub genes, gene set enrichment analysis, and pathway analysis were performed to gain an insight into the pathway alterations of OS. These results showed CPE could be served as a prognostic factor in osteoblastic OS and should be further investigated as potential therapeutic target. The present study evaluated the whole transcriptome expression of osteosarcoma progression and provided novel therapeutic targets for advanced osteosarcoma.
Project description:Persistent therapy-resistant leukemic progenitor cells (LPC) are a main cause of disease relapse and recurrence in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Specific LPC-targeting therapies may thus improve treatment outcome of AML patients. We demonstrate that LPCs present human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted cancer antigens that induce T cell responses allowing for immune surveillance of AML. Using a mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics approach we characterized the antigenic landscape of patient LPCs and identify AML/LPC-associated HLA-presented antigens as well as mutation-derived and cryptic neoepitopes as prime targets for development of T cell-based immunotherapeutic approaches. We observed frequent spontaneous memory T cells targeting these AML/LPC-associated antigens in AML patients and showed that antigen-specific T cell recognition and HLA class II immunopeptidome diversity impacts clinical outcome. Our results pave the way for implementation of AML/LPC-associated antigens for T cell-based immunotherapeutic approaches to specifically target and eliminate residual LPCs in AML patients.