RESUMO
The cancer-testis antigen NY-ESO-1 is one of the most promising candidates for generic vaccination of cancer patients. Here we analyzed the CD8(+) T cell response to a NY-ESO-1 peptide vaccine composed of the two previously defined peptides 157-165 and 157-167, administered with GM-CSF as a systemic adjuvant. The NY-ESO-1 peptide vaccine elicited a CD8(+) T cell response directed against multiple distinct epitopes in the 157-167 region, as revealed by using A2/peptide multimers incorporating overlapping A2 binding peptides in this region. However, only a minor fraction of the elicited CD8(+) T cells, namely those recognizing the peptide 157-165 with sufficiently high functional avidity, recognized the naturally processed target on NY-ESO-1(+) tumor cells. In contrast, the majority of peptide 157-165-specific CD8(+) T cells exhibited lower functional avidity and no tumor reactivity. In addition, vaccine-elicited CD8(+) T cells specific for other overlapping epitopes in the 157-167 region failed to significantly recognize NY-ESO-1-expressing tumor targets. Thus, because of the complexity of the CD8(+) T cell repertoire that can be elicited by vaccination with synthetic peptides, a precise definition of the targeted epitope, and hence, of the corresponding peptide to be used as immunogen, is required to ensure a precise tumor targeting.
Assuntos
Antígenos de Neoplasias/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/imunologia , Vacinas Anticâncer/imunologia , Epitopos/metabolismo , Proteínas de Membrana , Neoplasias/imunologia , Proteínas/imunologia , Vacinas de Subunidades Antigênicas/imunologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/citologia , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos/metabolismo , Vacinas Anticâncer/metabolismo , Células Cultivadas , Epitopos/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-A2/imunologia , Antígeno HLA-A2/metabolismo , Humanos , Leiomiossarcoma/imunologia , Leiomiossarcoma/terapia , Masculino , Neoplasias/terapia , Ligação Proteica , Sarcoma Sinovial/imunologia , Sarcoma Sinovial/terapia , Vacinas de Subunidades Antigênicas/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
The efficacy of current standard therapies for the treatment of sarcoma remains limited. With the aim of identifying target antigens relevant to the development of vaccine-based immunotherapy of sarcoma, we have addressed the relevance of tumor-specific antigens encoded by genes belonging to the SSX family as vaccine targets in sarcoma tumors. Expression of SSX-1 to -5 was analyzed in a collection of sarcoma tumors of diverse histological subtypes and in sarcoma cell lines. We found expression of at least one SSX-encoded antigen in 42% of sarcoma tumors, including 5 of 7 different histological subtypes, and in 50% of sarcoma cell lines. SSX-1 was the most frequently expressed family member, followed by SSX-4, -2 and -5. Expression of SSX-3 was detected in only one sample. Importantly, most SSX positive samples co-expressed more than one family member. In addition, assessment of CD8+ T cell recognition of HLA-A2+ SSX-2+ sarcoma cells showed that the latter were efficiently recognized and lysed by SSX-2-specific CTLs. The results of this study indicate that SSX antigens are relevant targets for the development of vaccine-based immunotherapy of sarcoma and encourage the start of vaccination trials using SSX-derived immunogens in sarcoma patients.