Immunogenicity of Non-Mutated Ovarian Cancer-Specific Antigens.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has not significantly benefited from advances in immunotherapy, mainly because of the lack of well-defined actionable antigen targets. Using proteogenomic analyses of primary EOC tumors, we previously identified 91 aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) originating from unmutated genomic sequences. Most of these TSAs derive from non-exonic regions, and their expression results from cancer-specific epigenetic changes. The present study aimed to evaluate the immunogenicity of 48 TSAs selected according to two criteria: presentation by highly prevalent HLA allotypes and expression in a significant fraction of EOC tumors. Using targeted mass spectrometry analyses, we found that pulsing with synthetic TSA peptides leads to a high-level presentation on dendritic cells. TSA abundance correlated with the predicted binding affinity to the HLA allotype. We stimulated naïve CD8 T cells from healthy blood donors with TSA-pulsed dendritic cells and assessed their expansion with two assays: MHC-peptide tetramer staining and TCR Vß CDR3 sequencing. We report that these TSAs can expand sizeable populations of CD8 T cells and, therefore, represent attractive targets for EOC immunotherapy.

Autophagy degrades immunogenic endogenous retroelements induced by 5-azacytidine in acute myeloid leukemia.

The hypomethylating agent 5-azacytidine (AZA) is the first-line treatment for AML patients unfit for intensive chemotherapy. The effect of AZA results in part from T-cell cytotoxic responses against MHC-I-associated peptides (MAPs) deriving from hypermethylated genomic regions such as cancer-testis antigens (CTAs), or endogenous retroelements (EREs). However, evidence supporting higher ERE MAPs presentation after AZA treatment is lacking. Therefore, using proteogenomics, we examined the impact of AZA on the repertoire of MAPs and their source transcripts. AZA-treated AML upregulated both CTA and ERE transcripts, but only CTA MAPs were presented at greater levels. Upregulated ERE transcripts triggered innate immune responses against double-stranded RNAs but were degraded by autophagy, and not processed into MAPs. Autophagy resulted from the formation of protein aggregates caused by AZA-dependent inhibition of DNMT2. Autophagy inhibition had an additive effect with AZA on AML cell proliferation and survival, increased ERE levels, increased pro-inflammatory responses, and generated immunogenic tumor-specific ERE-derived MAPs. Finally, autophagy was associated with a lower abundance of CD8+ T-cell markers in AML patients expressing high levels of EREs. This work demonstrates that AZA-induced EREs are degraded by autophagy and shows that inhibiting autophagy can improve the immune recognition of AML blasts in treated patients.

Breast cancer immunopeptidomes contain numerous shared tumor antigens.

Hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (HR+) is immunologically cold and has not benefited from advances in immunotherapy. In contrast, subsets of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) display high leukocytic infiltration and respond to checkpoint blockade. CD8+ T cells, the main effectors of anticancer responses, recognize MHC I-associated peptides (MAPs). Our work aimed to characterize the repertoire of MAPs presented by HR+ and TNBC tumors. Using mass spectrometry, we identified 57,094 unique MAPs in 26 primary breast cancer samples. MAP source genes highly overlapped between both subtypes. We identified 25 tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) mainly deriving from aberrantly expressed regions. TSAs were most frequently identified in TNBC samples and were more shared among The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database TNBC than HR+ samples. In the TNBC cohort, the predicted number of TSAs positively correlated with leukocytic infiltration and overall survival, supporting their immunogenicity in vivo. We detected 49 tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), some of which derived from cancer-associated fibroblasts. Functional expansion of specific T cell assays confirmed the in vitro immunogenicity of several TSAs and TAAs. Our study identified attractive targets for cancer immunotherapy in both breast cancer subtypes. The higher prevalence of TSAs in TNBC tumors provides a rationale for their responsiveness to checkpoint blockade.

BamQuery: a proteogenomic tool to explore the immunopeptidome and prioritize actionable tumor antigens.

MHC-I-associated peptides deriving from non-coding genomic regions and mutations can generate tumor-specific antigens, including neoantigens. Quantifying tumor-specific antigens' RNA expression in malignant and benign tissues is critical for discriminating actionable targets. We present BamQuery, a tool attributing an exhaustive RNA expression to MHC-I-associated peptides of any origin from bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing data. We show that many cryptic and mutated tumor-specific antigens can derive from multiple discrete genomic regions, abundantly expressed in normal tissues. BamQuery can also be used to predict MHC-I-associated peptides immunogenicity and identify actionable tumor-specific antigens de novo.

OpenCustomDB: Integration of Unannotated Open Reading Frames and Genetic Variants to Generate More Comprehensive Customized Protein Databases.

Proteomic diversity in biological samples can be characterized by mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics using customized protein databases generated from sets of transcripts previously detected by RNA-seq. This diversity has only been increased by the recent discovery that many translated alternative open reading frames rest unannotated at unsuspected locations of mRNAs and ncRNAs. These novel protein products, termed alternative proteins, have been left out of all previous custom database generation tools. Consequently, genetic variations that impact alternative open reading frames and variant peptides from their translated proteins are not detectable with current computational workflows. To fill this gap, we present OpenCustomDB, a bioinformatics tool that uses sample-specific RNaseq data to identify genomic variants in canonical and alternative open reading frames, allowing for more than one coding region per transcript. In a test reanalysis of a cohort of 16 patients with acute myeloid leukemia, 5666 peptides from alternative proteins were detected, including 201 variant peptides. We also observed that a significant fraction of peptide-spectrum matches previously assigned to peptides from canonical proteins got better scores when reassigned to peptides from alternative proteins. Custom protein libraries that include sample-specific sequence variations of all possible open reading frames are promising contributions to the development of proteomics and precision medicine. The raw and processed proteomics data presented in this study can be found in PRIDE repository with accession number PXD029240.

Induced pluripotent stem cells display a distinct set of MHC I-associated peptides shared by human cancers.

Previous reports showed that mouse vaccination with pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) induces durable anti-tumor immune responses via T cell recognition of some elusive oncofetal epitopes. We characterize the MHC I-associated peptide (MAP) repertoire of human induced PSCs (iPSCs) using proteogenomics. Our analyses reveal a set of 46 pluripotency-associated MAPs (paMAPs) absent from the transcriptome of normal tissues and adult stem cells but expressed in PSCs and multiple adult cancers. These paMAPs derive from coding and allegedly non-coding (48%) transcripts involved in pluripotency maintenance, and their expression in The Cancer Genome Atlas samples correlates with source gene hypomethylation and genomic aberrations common across cancer types. We find that several of these paMAPs were immunogenic. However, paMAP expression in tumors coincides with activation of pathways instrumental in immune evasion (WNT, TGF-ß, and CDK4/6). We propose that currently available inhibitors of these pathways could synergize with immune targeting of paMAPs for the treatment of poorly differentiated cancers.

Immunopeptidomic analyses of colorectal cancers with and without microsatellite instability.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide, and the incidence of this disease is expected to increase as global socioeconomic changes occur. Immune checkpoint inhibition therapy is effective in treating a minority of colorectal cancer tumors; however, microsatellite stable tumors do not respond well to this treatment. Emerging cancer immunotherapeutic strategies aim to activate a cytotoxic T cell response against tumor-specific antigens, presented exclusively at the cell surface of cancer cells. These antigens are rare and are most effectively identified with a mass spectrometry-based approach, which allows the direct sampling and sequencing of these peptides. Although the few tumor-specific antigens identified to date are derived from coding regions of the genome, recent findings indicate that a large proportion of tumor-specific antigens originate from allegedly noncoding regions. Here, we employed a novel proteogenomic approach to identify tumor antigens in a collection of colorectal cancer-derived cell lines and biopsy samples consisting of matched tumor and normal adjacent tissue. The generation of personalized cancer databases paired with mass spectrometry analyses permitted the identification of more than 30,000 unique MHC I-associated peptides. We identified 19 tumor-specific antigens in both microsatellite stable and unstable tumors, over two-thirds of which were derived from noncoding regions. Many of these peptides were derived from source genes known to be involved in colorectal cancer progression, suggesting that antigens from these genes could have therapeutic potential in a wide range of tumors. These findings could benefit the development of T cell-based vaccines, in which T cells are primed against these antigens to target and eradicate tumors. Such a vaccine could be used in tandem with existing immune checkpoint inhibition therapies, to bridge the gap in treatment efficacy across subtypes of colorectal cancer with varying prognoses. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD028309.

Atypical acute myeloid leukemia-specific transcripts generate shared and immunogenic MHC class-I-associated epitopes.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has not benefited from innovative immunotherapies, mainly because of the lack of actionable immune targets. Using an original proteogenomic approach, we analyzed the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC class I)-associated immunopeptidome of 19 primary AML samples and identified 58 tumor-specific antigens (TSAs). These TSAs bore no mutations and derived mainly (86%) from supposedly non-coding genomic regions. Two AML-specific aberrations were instrumental in the biogenesis of TSAs, intron retention, and epigenetic changes. Indeed, 48% of TSAs resulted from intron retention and translation, and their RNA expression correlated with mutations of epigenetic modifiers (e.g., DNMT3A). AML TSA-coding transcripts were highly shared among patients and were expressed in both blasts and leukemic stem cells. In AML patients, the predicted number of TSAs correlated with spontaneous expansion of cognate T cell receptor clonotypes, accumulation of activated cytotoxic T cells, immunoediting, and improved survival. These TSAs represent attractive targets for AML immunotherapy.

Most non-canonical proteins uniquely populate the proteome or immunopeptidome.

Combining RNA sequencing, ribosome profiling, and mass spectrometry, we elucidate the contribution of non-canonical translation to the proteome and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I immunopeptidome. Remarkably, of 14,498 proteins identified in three human B cell lymphomas, 2,503 are non-canonical proteins. Of these, 28% are novel isoforms and 72% are cryptic proteins encoded by ostensibly non-coding regions (60%) or frameshifted canonical genes (12%). Cryptic proteins are translated as efficiently as canonical proteins, have more predicted disordered residues and lower stability, and critically generate MHC-I peptides 5-fold more efficiently per translation event. Translating 5' "untranslated" regions hinders downstream translation of genes involved in transcription, translation, and antiviral responses. Novel protein isoforms show strong enrichment for signaling pathways deregulated in cancer. Only a small fraction of cryptic proteins detected in the proteome contribute to the MHC-I immunopeptidome, demonstrating the high preferential access of cryptic defective ribosomal products to the class I pathway.

The Origin and Immune Recognition of Tumor-Specific Antigens.

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.

Apoptotic exosome-like vesicles regulate endothelial gene expression, inflammatory signaling, and function through the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Persistent endothelial injury promotes maladaptive responses by favoring the release of factors leading to perturbation in vascular homeostasis and tissue architecture. Caspase-3 dependent death of microvascular endothelial cells leads to the release of unique apoptotic exosome-like vesicles (ApoExo). Here, we evaluate the impact of ApoExo on endothelial gene expression and function in the context of a pro-apoptotic stimulus. Endothelial cells exposed to ApoExo differentially express genes involved in cell death, inflammation, differentiation, and cell movement. Endothelial cells exposed to ApoExo showed inhibition of apoptosis, improved wound closure along with reduced angiogenic activity and reduced expression of endothelial markers consistent with the first phase of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (endoMT). ApoExo interaction with endothelial cells also led to NF-κB activation. NF-κB is known to participate in endothelial dysfunction in numerous diseases. Silencing NF-κB reversed the anti-apoptotic effect and the pro-migratory state and prevented angiostatic properties and CD31 downregulation in endothelial cells exposed to ApoExo. This study identifies vascular injury-derived extracellular vesicles (ApoExo) as novel drivers of NF-κB activation in endothelial cells and demonstrates the pivotal role of this signaling pathway in coordinating ApoExo-induced functional changes in endothelial cells. Hence, targeting ApoExo-mediated NF-κB activation in endothelial cells opens new avenues to prevent endothelial dysfunction.

Extending the Comprehensiveness of Immunopeptidome Analyses Using Isobaric Peptide Labeling.

Defining the repertoire of peptides presented by the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) is a key step toward the identification of relevant antigens for cancer immunotherapy. However, the identification of cancer-specific antigens is a significant analytical challenge in view of their low abundance and low mutational load found in most primary cancer specimens. Here, we describe the application of isobaric peptide labeling with tandem mass tag (TMT) to improve the detection of the MHC I peptides. Isobaric peptide labeling was found to promote the formation of multiply charged ions and to enhance the formation of b-type fragment ions, thus resulting in a 50% improvement of MHC I peptide identification. The gain in sensitivity obtained using TMT labeling enabled the detection of low-abundance MHC I peptides including tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) and minor histocompatibility antigens (MiHAs). We further demonstrate the application of this approach to quantify MiHAs presented by B-cell lymphocytes and determined their expression levels by LC-MS/MS using both synchronous precursor selection (SPS) and high-field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS).

Apoptotic endothelial cells release small extracellular vesicles loaded with immunostimulatory viral-like RNAs.

Endothelial cells have multifaceted interactions with the immune system, both as initiators and targets of immune responses. In vivo, apoptotic endothelial cells release two types of extracellular vesicles upon caspase-3 activation: apoptotic bodies and exosome-like nanovesicles (ApoExos). Only ApoExos are immunogenic: their injection causes inflammation and autoimmunity in mice. Based on deep sequencing of total RNA, we report that apoptotic bodies and ApoExos are loaded with divergent RNA cargos that are not released by healthy endothelial cells. Apoptotic bodies, like endothelial cells, contain mainly ribosomal RNA whereas ApoExos essentially contain non-ribosomal non-coding RNAs. Endogenous retroelements, bearing viral-like features, represented half of total ApoExos RNA content. ApoExos also contained several copies of unedited Alu repeats and large amounts of non-coding RNAs with a demonstrated role in autoimmunity such as U1 RNA and Y RNA. Moreover, ApoExos RNAs had a unique nucleotide composition and secondary structure characterized by strong enrichment in U-rich motifs and unstably folded RNAs. Globally, ApoExos were therefore loaded with RNAs that can stimulate a variety of RIG-I-like receptors and endosomal TLRs. Hence, apoptotic endothelial cells selectively sort in ApoExos a diversified repertoire of immunostimulatory "self RNAs" that are tailor-made for initiation of innate immune responses and autoimmunity.

The Genomic Landscape of Antigenic Targets for T Cell-Based Leukemia Immunotherapy.

Intensive fundamental and clinical research in cancer immunotherapy has led to the emergence and evolution of two parallel universes with surprisingly little interactions: the realm of hematologic malignancies and that of solid tumors. Treatment of hematologic cancers using allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) serendipitously led to the discovery that T cells specific for minor histocompatibility antigens (MiHAs) could cure hematopoietic cancers. Besides, studies based on treatment of solid tumor with ex vivo-expanded tumor infiltrating lymphocytes or immune checkpoint therapy demonstrated that anti-tumor responses could be achieved by targeting tumor-specific antigens (TSAs). It is our contention that much insight can be gained by sharing the tremendous amount of data generated in the two-abovementioned universes. Our perspective article has two specific goals. First, to discuss the value of methods currently used for MiHA and TSA discovery and to explain the key role of mass spectrometry analyses in this process. Second, to demonstrate the importance of broadening the scope of TSA discovery efforts beyond classic annotated protein-coding genomic sequences.

PSMB11 Orchestrates the Development of CD4 and CD8 Thymocytes via Regulation of Gene Expression in Cortical Thymic Epithelial Cells.

T cell development depends on sequential interactions of thymocytes with cortical thymic epithelial cells (cTECs) and medullary thymic epithelial cells. PSMB11 is a catalytic proteasomal subunit present exclusively in cTECs. Because proteasomes regulate transcriptional activity, we asked whether PSMB11 might affect gene expression in cTECs. We report that PSMB11 regulates the expression of 850 cTEC genes that modulate lymphostromal interactions primarily via the WNT signaling pathway. cTECs from Psmb11 -/- mice 1) acquire features of medullary thymic epithelial cells and 2) retain CD8 thymocytes in the thymic cortex, thereby impairing phase 2 of positive selection, 3) perturbing CD8 T cell development, and 4) causing dramatic oxidative stress leading to apoptosis of CD8 thymocytes. Deletion of Psmb11 also causes major oxidative stress in CD4 thymocytes. However, CD4 thymocytes do not undergo apoptosis because, unlike CD8 thymocytes, they upregulate expression of chaperones and inhibitors of apoptosis. We conclude that PSMB11 has pervasive effects on both CD4 and CD8 thymocytes via regulation of gene expression in cTECs.

Noncoding regions are the main source of targetable tumor-specific antigens.

Tumor-specific antigens (TSAs) represent ideal targets for cancer immunotherapy, but few have been identified thus far. We therefore developed a proteogenomic approach to enable the high-throughput discovery of TSAs coded by potentially all genomic regions. In two murine cancer cell lines and seven human primary tumors, we identified a total of 40 TSAs, about 90% of which derived from allegedly noncoding regions and would have been missed by standard exome-based approaches. Moreover, most of these TSAs derived from nonmutated yet aberrantly expressed transcripts (such as endogenous retroelements) that could be shared by multiple tumor types. Last, we demonstrated that, in mice, the strength of antitumor responses after TSA vaccination was influenced by two parameters that can be estimated in humans and could serve for TSA prioritization in clinical studies: TSA expression and the frequency of TSA-responsive T cells in the preimmune repertoire. In conclusion, the strategy reported herein could considerably facilitate the identification and prioritization of actionable human TSAs.

Comparison of the MHC I Immunopeptidome Repertoire of B-Cell Lymphoblasts Using Two Isolation Methods.

Significant technological advances in both affinity chromatography and mass spectrometry have facilitated the identification of peptides associated with the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC I) molecules, and enabled a greater understanding of the dynamic nature of the immunopeptidome of normal and neoplastic cells. While the isolation of MHC I-associated peptides (MIPs) typically used mild acid elution (MAE) or immunoprecipitation (IP), limited information currently exists regarding their respective analytical merits. Here, a comparison of these approaches for the isolation of two different B-cell lymphoblast cell models is presented, and it is reported on the recovery, reproducibility, scalability, and complementarity of identification from each method. Both approaches yielded reproducible datasets for peptide extracts obtained from 2 to 100 million cells, with 2016 to 5093 MIPs, respectively. The IP typically provides up to 6.4-fold increase in MIPs compared to the MAE. The comprehensiveness of these immunopeptidome analyses is extended using personalized genomic database of B-cell lymphoblasts, and it is discovered that 0.4% of their respective MIP repertoire harbored nonsynonymous single nucleotide variations (also known as minor histocompatibility antigens, MiHAs).

Immunoproteasomes Control the Homeostasis of Medullary Thymic Epithelial Cells by Alleviating Proteotoxic Stress.

The sole nonredundant role of the thymic medulla is to induce central tolerance, a vital process that depends on promiscuous gene expression (pGE), a unique feature of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs). Although pGE enhances transcription of >3,000 genes in mTECs, its impact on the regulation of protein homeostasis remains unexplored. Here, we report that, because of pGE, mature mTECs synthesize substantially more proteins than other cell types and are exquisitely sensitive to loss of immunoproteasomes (IPs). Indeed, IP deficiency causes proteotoxic stress in mTECs and leads to exhaustion of postnatal mTEC progenitors. Moreover, IP-deficient mice show accelerated thymic involution, which is characterized by a selective loss of mTECs and multiorgan autoimmune manifestations. We conclude that pGE, the quintessential feature of mTECs, is a major burden for the maintenance of proteostasis, which is alleviated by the constitutive expression of IPs in mTECs.

Global proteogenomic analysis of human MHC class I-associated peptides derived from non-canonical reading frames.

In view of recent reports documenting pervasive translation outside of canonical protein-coding sequences, we wished to determine the proportion of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-associated peptides (MAPs) derived from non-canonical reading frames. Here we perform proteogenomic analyses of MAPs eluted from human B cells using high-throughput mass spectrometry to probe the six-frame translation of the B-cell transcriptome. We report that ∼ 10% of MAPs originate from allegedly noncoding genomic sequences or exonic out-of-frame translation. The biogenesis and properties of these 'cryptic MAPs' differ from those of conventional MAPs. Cryptic MAPs come from very short proteins with atypical C termini, and are coded by transcripts bearing long 3'UTRs enriched in destabilizing elements. Relative to conventional MAPs, cryptic MAPs display different MHC class I-binding preferences and harbour more genomic polymorphisms, some of which are immunogenic. Cryptic MAPs increase the complexity of the MAP repertoire and enhance the scope of CD8 T-cell immunosurveillance.

Immunoproteasomes shape the transcriptome and regulate the function of dendritic cells.

By regulating protein degradation, constitutive proteasomes (CPs) control practically all cellular functions. In addition to CPs, vertebrates express immunoproteasomes (IPs). The major nonredundant role ascribed to IPs is their enhanced ability to generate antigenic peptides. We report that CPs and IPs differentially regulate the expression of >8000 transcripts in maturing mouse dendritic cells (DCs) via regulation of signaling pathways such as IFN regulatory factors, STATs, and NF-κB. IPs regulate the transcription of many mRNAs and maturation of a few of them. Moreover, even when engineered to present optimal amounts of antigenic peptide, IP-deficient DCs are inefficient for in vivo T cell priming. Our study shows that the role of IPs in DCs is not limited to Ag processing and reveals a major nonredundant role for IPs in transcription regulation. The dramatic effect of IPs on the transcriptional landscape could explain the various immune and nonimmune phenotypes observed in vertebrates with IP deficiency or mutations.