Plasma cell marker, immunoglobulin J polypeptide, predicts early disease-specific mortality in HPV+ HNSCC.

BACKGROUND: Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV+) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have superior prognoses compared with patients with HPV- HNSCC and strategies for treatment de-escalation are under investigation for the HPV+ setting. However, the survival advantage associated with HPV is not universal, and a subset of patients with HPV+ HNSCC fail definitive treatment and progress with metastatic/recurrent disease. Currently, no biomarker is available to distinguish aggressive from indolent HPV+ HNSCC. Immune dysfunction facilitates tumorigenesis and is associated with poor treatment response; therefore, we hypothesized that diminished intratumoral immune cell functionality may be attractive biomarkers to identify patients with HPV+ HNSCC at risk for early disease-specific mortality. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HPV+ HNSCC cohort. RESULTS: Immunoglobulin J polypeptide (IGJ), uniquely expressed in plasma cells, showed a broad expression range in HPV+ HNSCC. Cox regression model, adjusting for clinical covariates, indicated that IGJ is an independent prognostic biomarker for disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS). Patients with low IGJ had a 7.2-fold (p<0.001) increase in risk of disease-specific death with a median DSS of 13 months. Low IGJ showed an area under curve (AUC) of 0.89 with 91.0% sensitivity and 87.6% specificity to identify early disease-specific mortality (defined as DSS ≤12 months). Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed a global dampening of immune pathways in low IGJ tumors. CONCLUSIONS: Our work showed that IGJ is a robust and independent prognostic biomarker for disease-specific mortality in HPV+ HNSCC. Patient with HPV+ HNSCC with limited adaptive immune functionality should not be candidates for treatment de-escalation modalities.

Serum Levels of Joining Chain-Containing IgA1 Are Not Elevated in Patients with IgA Nephropathy.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that mesangial IgA deposits are dimeric or polymeric in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). However, evidence concerning the molecular form of serum IgA in IgAN is controversial. And there is no direct evidence that the serum levels of joining chain- (J chain-) containing IgA (J-IgA) are elevated in IgAN. In this study, we aimed to measure serum J-IgA and glomerular J chain deposition with anti-J chain monoclonal antibody in IgAN. METHODS: BALB/c mice were immunized with human J chain-GST recombinant peptide to obtain anti-J chain monoclonal antibody. The levels of serum total IgA and J-IgA were measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 115 patients with IgAN and 117 healthy volunteers. J chain deposition in kidney specimens was analyzed by immunohistochemistry staining. RESULTS: Serum levels of total IgA1 were elevated in IgAN patients compared to healthy subjects. However, serum levels of IgA, J-IgA, and J chain-containing IgA1 (J-IgA1), the J-IgA to total IgA ratio, and the J-IgA1 to total IgA1 ratio were not significantly different between IgAN patients and healthy subjects. Western blot analysis and gel filtration analysis using purified IgA1 also showed that the proportion of J chain-containing polymeric IgA1 was lower in IgAN patients compared to healthy subjects. No correlation was found between serum J-IgA or J-IgA1 and clinical features in IgAN. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that glomerular J chain was positive in 12 IgAN patients (57.1%). The values of the J-IgA to IgA ratio and J-IgA1 to IgA ratio were significantly higher in IgAN patients with glomerular J chain deposition than those without. However, the serum levels of J-IgA and J-IgA1 and the J-IgA1 to IgA1 ratio were not significantly higher in two subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: Although serum levels of total IgA1 were elevated in IgAN, the serum levels of J-IgA1 were not elevated. And serum J-IgA, serum J-IgA1, and J chain deposition were not correlated with disease severity in IgAN.

Serum immune-related proteins are differentially expressed during hibernation in the American black bear.

Hibernation is an adaptation to conserve energy in the face of extreme environmental conditions and low food availability that has risen in several animal phyla. This phenomenon is characterized by reduced metabolic rate (∼25% of the active basal metabolic rate in hibernating bears) and energy demand, while other physiological adjustments are far from clear. The profiling of the serum proteome of the American black bear (Ursus americanus) may reveal specific proteins that are differentially modulated by hibernation, and provide insight into the remarkable physiological adaptations that characterize ursid hibernation. In this study, we used differential gel electrophoresis (DIGE) analysis, liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, and subsequent MASCOT analysis of the mass spectra to identify candidate proteins that are differentially expressed during hibernation in captive black bears. Seventy serum proteins were identified as changing by ±1.5 fold or more, out of which 34 proteins increased expression during hibernation. The majority of identified proteins are involved in immune system processes. These included α2-macroglobulin, complement components C1s and C4, immunoglobulin µ and J chains, clusterin, haptoglobin, C4b binding protein, kininogen 1, α2-HS-glycoprotein, and apoplipoproteins A-I and A-IV. Differential expression of a subset of these proteins identified by proteomic analysis was also confirmed by immunodetection. We propose that the observed serum protein changes contribute to the maintenance of the hibernation phenotype and health, including increased capacities for bone maintenance and wound healing during hibernation in bears.

Antigenic specificity and expression of a natural idiotope on human pentameric and hexameric IgM polymers.

Natural antibodies (NAbs) are present in circulation even before the exposure to antigen and they exert various biological functions. They are polyreactive and mainly represented by immunoglobulin M (IgM), which is the first antibody produced in an ongoing immune response to infection and/or immunization. IgM is always secreted as a polymer with predominant pentameric structure, although other polymeric forms such as hexamer can be also formed. The biological functions of hexameric IgM are still not known and it is proposed that its existence as a NAb could be deleterious. However, the nature of IgM hexamers has not been investigated yet. In this paper, we have tested the expression of natural idiotope and antigenic specificities of pentameric and hexameric IgM polymers originating from sera of patients with Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, as well as patients suffering from recurrent urinary bacterial infections. We demonstrate that although pentameric IgM polymers can exist as natural and immune antibodies, IgM hexamers are exclusively immune and do not exist as NAbs.

Fc alpha RI/CD89 circulates in human serum covalently linked to IgA in a polymeric state.

The FcR for IgA CD89/FcalphaRI, is a type I receptor glycoprotein, expressed on myeloid cells, with important immune effector functions. In vitro CD89 can be released from CD89-expressing cells upon activation. Little information is available on the existence of this soluble molecule in vivo. Using specific and sensitive ELISA techniques (detection limit 50 pg/ml), we were not able to detect circulating CD89 in human sera. However, using Western blotting, a 30-kDa soluble CD89 molecule was demonstrated in both serum and plasma. Moreover, using a specific semiquantitative dot-blot system, we found CD89 in all human sera tested (mean concentration 1900 ng/ml). Size fractionation of human serum using gel filtration chromatography showed that the CD89 molecule was predominantly present in larger molecular mass fractions. Direct complexes between IgA and CD89 were demonstrated by anti-IgA affinity purification, and when analyzed under nonreducing conditions appeared to be covalently linked. Size fractionation of affinity-purified IgA showed the presence of soluble CD89 only in the high molecular mass fractions of IgA, but not in monomeric IgA. High molecular mass complexes of CD89-IgA could be distinguished from J chain containing dimeric IgA. These data show that CD89 circulates in complex with IgA, and suggest that CD89 might contribute to the formation of polymeric serum IgA.

Ontogeny of the murine Ig joining chain gene and protein.

We used Northern blot analysis in order to investigate the ontogeny of the murine joining (J)-chain gene. No J-chain expression was detected in embryonic tissues, including liver, spleen and intestine, but an expression of mu heavy chain was detected in foetal liver at day 17. J-chain expression was detected in the spleen at day 9 and in the intestine at day 15 after birth. Western blot analysis was carried out in order to compare the protein levels of J and mu heavy chains in serum from day 8 to day 24 after birth, using antihuman J chain and antimouse mu chain antibodies. Although mu chain protein could be detected in serum from day 8, J-chain protein was detectable only at day 24. These results suggest that the expression of J chain is a later event than the mu chain in the mouse, which thus differs in embryogenesis from humans.

Complex IgA gammopathy in Gaucher's disease.

A 55-year-old Jewish patient was simultaneously diagnosed as having Gaucher's disease and IgA multiple myeloma. Serum protein electrophoresis and immunoelectrophoresis showed two different IgA kappa type monoclonal spikes. After four years of observation, a rapid fatal course of disease developed together with expression of J chain protein and an additional IgA lambda paraprotein. Although dysproteinaemias and multiple myeloma have occasionally been reported in Gaucher's patients, such a complex gammopathy has to the best of our knowledge not yet been described.

Homogenous IgA monomers, dimers, trimers and tetramers from the same IgA myeloma serum.

Starting from two IgA1 myeloma sera, the isolation of monoclonal monomeric, dimeric, trimeric and tetrameric IgA in a high state of purity and size homogeneity for each serum is described. The method combined repetitive gel filtrations on Ultrogel AcA22 with affinity chromatography on Jacalin-Sepharose. These various forms of pure polymeric IgA obtained from the same monoclonal IgA should allow a precise comparison of their respective structure and reactivity with different IgA-binding proteins, such as IgA Fc-receptors, the polymeric Ig receptor, and lectins.