Helicase antigen (HAGE)-derived vaccines induce immunity to HAGE and ImmunoBody®-HAGE DNA vaccine delays the growth and metastasis of HAGE-expressing tumors in vivo.

The management of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) continues to pose a significant clinical challenge. Less than 30% of women with metastatic TNBC survive 5 years, despite adjuvant chemotherapy and the initial higher rates of clinical response that can be achieved with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. ImmunoBody is a plasmid DNA designed to encode a human antibody molecule with complementarity-determining regions engineered to express cytotoxic and helper T-cell epitopes derived from the cancer antigen of interest. The helicase antigen (HAGE) is a cancer testis antigen, which is expressed in TNBC. Herein, we have identified a 30-amino-acid-long HAGE-derived sequence containing human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A2- and HLA-DR1-restricted epitopes and demonstrated that the use of this sequence as a peptide (with CpG/incomplete Freund's adjuvant) or incorporated into an ImmunoBody vaccine can generate specific interferon-γ-secreting splenocytes in HHDII+ DR1+ mice. T-cell responses elicited by the ImmunoBody-HAGE vaccine were superior to peptide immunization. Moreover, splenocytes from ImmunoBody-HAGE-vaccinated mice stimulated in vitro could recognize HAGE+ tumor cells and the human TNBC cell line MDA-MB-231. More importantly, the growth of implanted HHDII+ DR1+ HAGE+ Luc+ B16 cells.

Loss of NEDD8 in cancer cells causes vulnerability to immune checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer.

Immune checkpoint blockade therapy aims to activate the immune system to eliminate cancer cells. However, clinical benefits are only recorded in a subset of patients. Here, we leverage genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screens in a Tumor-Immune co-Culture System focusing on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We reveal that NEDD8 loss in cancer cells causes a vulnerability to nivolumab (anti-PD-1). Genetic deletion of NEDD8 only delays cell division initially but cell proliferation is unaffected after recovery. Since the NEDD8 gene is commonly essential, we validate this observation with additional CRISPR screens and uncover enhanced immunogenicity in NEDD8 deficient cells using proteomics. In female immunocompetent mice, PD-1 blockade lacks efficacy against established EO771 breast cancer tumors. In contrast, we observe tumor regression mediated by CD8+ T cells against Nedd8 deficient EO771 tumors after PD-1 blockade. In essence, we provide evidence that NEDD8 is conditionally essential in TNBC and presents as a synergistic drug target for PD-1/L1 blockade therapy.

Circadian-based approach for improving physiological, phytochemical and chloroplast proteome in Spinacia oleracea under salinity stress and light emitting diodes.

Salt stress is a recognized annihilating abiotic stress that has a significant impact on agricultural and horticulture crop productivity. Plant development faces three distinct dangers as a result of salt stress: oxidative stress, osmotic stress, and ionic toxicity. It has been shown that plants can forecast diurnal patterns using the circadian clock; moreover, they can manage their defensive mechanism for the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Circadian rhythmicity in gene expression assembles transcription and translation feedback networks to govern plant shape, physiology, cellular and molecular activities. Both external and internal variables influence the systemic rhythm via input routes. The Malav Jyoti (MJ) and Delhi Green (DG) genotypes of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) were grown in the plant growth chamber. The chamber had an optimized temperature of 25 °C and humidity of 65% containing light emitting diode (LED) having Red: Blue: white (one side) and White fluorescent (other side) under salinity stress. The samples were collected on the basis of 4 h intervals of circadian hours (0 h, 4 h, 8 h and 12 h) during Day-10 and Day-20 of salt treatments. Under salt stress, the circadian and light-emitting diode-based strategy had a substantial influence on spinach's anti-oxidative responses, stomatal movement, CO2 assimilation, PS-I and II efficiency, phytochrome pigment efficiency, and photosynthesis. Based on the findings of the free radical scavenging enzyme tests, the photoperiodic hours for the proteome analysis were set to 11 am and 3 pm on Day-20. When compared to white fluorescent, this study found that LED has the capacity to influence the entrainment cues of the circadian clock in the cultivation of salt-sensitive spinach genotypes. According to our findings, changing the cellular scavenging mechanism and chloroplast proteome has increased the survival rate of spinach genotypes under LED when compared to white fluorescent.

IL-1 receptor-associated kinase-3 acts as an immune checkpoint in myeloid cells to limit cancer immunotherapy.

Inflammatory mediators released by cancer cells promote the induction of immune suppression and tolerance in myeloid cells. IL-1 receptor-associated kinase-3 (IRAK3) is a pseudokinase that inhibits IL-1/TLR signaling, but its role in patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy remains unclear. Using RNA-Seq data from the IMvigor210 trial, we found that tumors with high IRAK3 expressions showed enriched antiinflammatory pathways and worse clinical response to ICB therapy. Upon IRAK3 protein deletion with CRISPR/Cas9, primary human monocytes displayed altered global protein expression and phosphorylation in quantitative proteomics and released more proinflammatory cytokines in response to stimulation. Bone marrow-derived macrophages from an IRAK3 CRISPR KO mouse model demonstrated a proinflammatory phenotype and enhanced sensitivity to TLR agonists compared with WT cells. IRAK3 deficiency delayed the growth of carcinogen-induced and oncogene-driven murine cancer cells and induced enhanced activation in myeloid cells and T cells. Upon ICB treatment, IRAK3-KO mice showed enrichment of TCF1+PD-1+ stem-like memory CD8+ T cells and resulted in superior growth inhibition of immunologically cold tumors in vivo. Altogether, our study demonstrated what we believe to be a novel cancer-driven immune tolerance program controlled by IRAK3 in humans and mice and proposed its suitability as an immunotherapy target.

Sleep and Executive Functioning in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors after Critical Care.

Over 50,000 children are hospitalized annually for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and face long-term cognitive morbidity. Over 50% develop sleep/wake disturbances (SWDs) that can affect brain development and healing. We hypothesized SWDs would portend worse executive function outcomes in children aged 3−18 years with TBI 1−3 months after hospital discharge. SWDs were defined using the Sleep Disturbances Scale for Children (t-scores ≥ 60). Outcomes included the Global Executive Composite (GEC, t-score) from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second and Preschool Editions, and multiple objective executive function assessments combined through Principal Components Analysis into a Neurocognitive Index (NCI, z-score). Multiple linear regression evaluated associations between SWDs and executive function outcomes, controlling for covariates. Among 131 children, 68% had clinically significant SWDs, which were associated with significantly worse median scores on the GEC (56 vs. 45) and NCI (−0.02 vs. 0.42; both p < 0.05). When controlling for baseline characteristics and injury severity in multivariable analyses, SWDs were associated with worse GEC (ß-coefficient = 7.8; 95% Confidence Interval = 2.5, 13.1), and worse NCI (ß-coefficient = −0.4; 95% Confidence Interval = −0.8, −0.04). SWDs in children with TBI are associated with worse executive function outcomes after hospital discharge, and may serve as modifiable targets to improve outcomes.

A Novel HAGE/WT1-ImmunoBody® Vaccine Combination Enhances Anti-Tumour Responses When Compared to Either Vaccine Alone.

Many cancers, including myeloid leukaemia express the cancer testis antigen (CTA) DDX43 (HAGE) and/or the oncogene Wilms' tumour (WT1). Here we demonstrate that HAGE/WT1-ImmunoBody® vaccines derived T-cells can kill ex-vivo human CML cell lines expressing these antigens and significantly delay B16/HHDII+/DR1+/HAGE+/WT1+ tumour growth in the HHDII/DR1 mice and prolonged mouse survival in the prophylactic setting in comparison to non-immunised control mice. We show that immunisation of HHDII/DR1 mice with HAGE- and WT1-ImmunoBody® DNA vaccines in a prime-boost regime in two different flanks induce significant IFN-γ release by splenocytes from treated mice, and a significant level of cytotoxicity against tumour targets expressing HAGE/WT1 in vitro. More importantly, the combined HAGE/WT1 ImmunoBody® vaccine significantly delayed tumour growth in the B16/HHDII+/DR1+/HAGE+/WT1+ tumour model and prolonged mouse survival in the prophylactic setting in comparison to non-immunised control mice. Overall, this work demonstrates that combining both HAGE- and WT1-ImmunoBody® into a single vaccine is better than either vaccine alone. This combination vaccine could be given to patients whose cancer expresses HAGE and WT1 in parallel with existing therapies in order to decrease the chance of disease progression and relapse.

The deubiquitinase JOSD2 is a positive regulator of glucose metabolism.

Cancer cells undergo complex metabolic alterations. The mechanisms underlying the tuning of cancer metabolism are under active investigation. Here, we identify the uncharacterized deubiquitinase JOSD2 as a positive regulator of cancer cell proliferation by displaying comprehensive effects on glucose catabolism. We found that JOSD2 directly controls a metabolic enzyme complex that includes Aldolase A, Phosphofructokinase-1 and Phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, in vitro and in vivo. Further, JOSD2 expression, but not a catalytically inactive mutant, deubiquitinates and stabilizes the enzyme complex, thereby enhancing their activities and the glycolytic rate. This represents a selective JOSD2 feature that is not shared among other Machado-Joseph disease DUBs or observed in nontransformed cells. JOSD2 deficiency displays cytostatic effects and reduces glycolysis in a broad spectrum of tumor cells of distinct origin and its expression correlates with poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer. Overall, our study provides evidence for a previously unknown biological mechanism in which JOSD2 integrates glucose and serine metabolism with potential therapeutic implications.

Cancer Vaccines: Adjuvant Potency, Importance of Age, Lifestyle, and Treatments.

Although the discovery and characterization of multiple tumor antigens have sparked the development of many antigen/derived cancer vaccines, many are poorly immunogenic and thus, lack clinical efficacy. Adjuvants are therefore incorporated into vaccine formulations to trigger strong and long-lasting immune responses. Adjuvants have generally been classified into two categories: those that 'depot' antigens (e.g. mineral salts such as aluminum hydroxide, emulsions, liposomes) and those that act as immunostimulants (Toll Like Receptor agonists, saponins, cytokines). In addition, several novel technologies using vector-based delivery of antigens have been used. Unfortunately, the immune system declines with age, a phenomenon known as immunosenescence, and this is characterized by functional changes in both innate and adaptive cellular immunity systems as well as in lymph node architecture. While many of the immune functions decline over time, others paradoxically increase. Indeed, aging is known to be associated with a low level of chronic inflammation-inflamm-aging. Given that the median age of cancer diagnosis is 66 years and that immunotherapeutic interventions such as cancer vaccines are currently given in combination with or after other forms of treatments which themselves have immune-modulating potential such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the choice of adjuvants requires careful consideration in order to achieve the maximum immune response in a compromised environment. In addition, more clinical trials need to be performed to carefully assess how less conventional form of immune adjuvants, such as exercise, diet and psychological care which have all be shown to influence immune responses can be incorporated to improve the efficacy of cancer vaccines. In this review, adjuvants will be discussed with respect to the above-mentioned important elements.

Immune Landscape of Breast Cancers.

Breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease, both at a molecular and a histological level. Five intrinsic subtypes were initially identified-Luminal-A, Luminal-B, HER2⁺, Triple negative/basal like (TNBC) and normal like-subsequently expanded to seven (Basal-like-1 and 2, mesenchymal, mesenchymal stem-like, luminal androgen receptor, immuno-modulatory and unstable). Although genetic and epigenetic changes are key pathogenic events, the immune system plays a substantial role in promoting progression and metastasis. This review will discuss the extent to which immune cells can be detected within the tumor microenvironment, as well as their prognostic role and relationship with the microbiome, with an emphasis on TNBC.

Immune-Phenotyping and Transcriptomic Profiling of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells From Patients With Breast Cancer: Identification of a 3 Gene Signature Which Predicts Relapse of Triple Negative Breast Cancer.

Background: Interactions between the immune system and tumors are highly reciprocal in nature, leading to speculation that tumor recurrence or therapeutic resistance could be influenced or predicted by immune events that manifest locally, but can be detected systemically. Methods: Multi-parameter flow cytometry was used to examine the percentage and phenotype of natural killer (NK) cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), monocyte subsets and regulatory T (Treg) cells in the peripheral blood of of 85 patients with breast cancer (50 of whom were assessed before and after one cycle of anthracycline-based chemotherapy), and 23 controls. Transcriptomic profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in 23 patients were generated using a NanoString gene profiling platform. Results: An increased percentage of immunosuppressive cells such as granulocytic MDSCs, intermediate CD14++CD16+ monocytes and CD127negCD25highFoxP3+ Treg cells was observed in patients with breast cancer, especially patients with stage 3 and 4 disease, regardless of ER status. Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, B cell numbers decreased significantly, whereas monocyte numbers increased. Although chemotherapy had no effect on the percentage of Treg, MDSC and NK cells, the expression of inhibitory receptors CD85j, LIAR and NKG2A and activating receptors NKp30 and NKp44 on NK cells increased, concomitant with a decreased expression of NKp46 and DNAM-1 activating receptors. Transcriptomic profiling revealed a distinct group of 3 patients in the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cohort who expressed high levels of mRNA encoding genes predominantly involved in inflammation. The analysis of a large transcriptomic dataset derived from the tumors of patients with TNBC revealed that the expression of CD163, CXCR4, THBS1 predicted relapse-free survival. Conclusions: The peripheral blood immunome of patients with breast cancer is influenced by the presence and stage of cancer, but not by molecular subtypes. Furthermore, immune profiling coupled with transcriptomic analyses of peripheral blood cells may identify patients with TNBC that are at risk of relapse after chemotherapy.

Intrapartum spontaneous pneumomediastinum and surgical emphysema (Hamman's syndrome) in a 30-year-old woman with asthma.

The authors report a case of a 30-year-old nulliparous woman with a prior medical history of asthma who developed intrapartum pneumomediastinum with surgical emphysema during the second stage of labour. She was managed conservatively with supportive care and there was complete resolution of symptoms within 4 days. Clinical and radiological findings were consistent with Hamman's syndrome (spontaneous pneumomediastinum). This case reiterates the possibility of childhood asthma or a family history of asthma as being an associated risk factor for Hamman's syndrome and reminds us of the need to distinguish such clinical findings from more important and potentially life-threatening conditions such as oesophageal rupture, pulmonary embolism and aortic dissection that can present with similar findings.