Abstract
The dominant paradigm holds that spontaneous and therapeutically induced anti-tumor responses are mediated mainly by CD8 T cells and directed against tumor-specific antigens (TSAs). The presence of specific TSAs on cancer cells can only be proven by mass spectrometry analyses. Bioinformatic predictions and reverse immunology studies cannot provide this type of conclusive evidence. Most TSAs are coded by unmutated non-canonical transcripts that arise from cancer-specific epigenetic and splicing aberrations. When searching for TSAs, it is therefore important to perform mass spectrometry analyses that interrogate not only the canonical reading frame of annotated exome but all reading frames of the entire translatome. The majority of aberrantly expressed TSAs (aeTSAs) derive from unstable short-lived proteins that are good substrates for direct major histocompatibility complex (MHC) I presentation but poor substrates for cross-presentation. This is an important caveat, because cancer cells are poor antigen-presenting cells, and the immune system, therefore, depends on cross-presentation by dendritic cells (DCs) to detect the presence of TSAs. We, therefore, postulate that, in the untreated host, most aeTSAs are undetected by the immune system. We present evidence suggesting that vaccines inducing direct aeTSA presentation by DCs may represent an attractive strategy for cancer treatment.
Highlights
The introduction of immune checkpoint therapy in the treatment of several cancer types has dramatically changed the landscape of oncology [1,2]
Cancer-specific MAPs resulting from translation of any open reading frames not expressed in normal adult cells are referred to as aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) (Table 1). aeTSAs can derive from i) canonical onco-fetal genes that are normally repressed in the adult organism (e.g., MAGEA3) or ii) from non-canonical transcripts that arise from cancer-specific epigenetic changes, frameshift translation, or splicing aberrations
Not a single mTSA was validated by mass spectrometry analyses of four acute lymphoblastic leukemias [18] and three pancreatic adenocarcinomas [16]
Summary
The introduction of immune checkpoint therapy in the treatment of several cancer types has dramatically changed the landscape of oncology [1,2]. The success of this approach is based on the paradigm that T lymphocytes, and in particular the CD8 subset [3], recognize tumor antigens that can elicit vigorous immune responses and tumor rejection [4]. Strong evidence suggests that anti-tumor immune responses potentiated by immune checkpoint therapy are directed against tumor-specific antigens (TSAs); that is, MAPs found only on cancer cells [4,7,8]. AeTSA, aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigen; MS, mass spectrometry; mTSA, mutated tumor-specific antigen; TAA, tumor-associated antigen
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