Enhanced detection of neoantigen-reactive T cells targeting unique and shared oncogenes for personalized cancer immunotherapy.

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) targeting neoantigens can mediate tumor regression in selected patients with metastatic epithelial cancer. However, effectively identifying and harnessing neoantigen-reactive T cells for patient treatment remains a challenge and it is unknown whether current methods to detect neoantigen-reactive T cells are missing potentially clinically relevant neoantigen reactivities. We thus investigated whether the detection of neoantigen-reactive TILs could be enhanced by enriching T cells that express PD-1 and/or T cell activation markers followed by microwell culturing to avoid overgrowth of nonreactive T cells. In 6 patients with metastatic epithelial cancer, this method led to the detection of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells targeting 18 and 1 neoantigens, respectively, compared with 6 and 2 neoantigens recognized by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, respectively, when using our standard TIL fragment screening approach. In 2 patients, no recognition of mutated peptides was observed using our conventional screen, while our high-throughput approach led to the identification of 5 neoantigen-reactive T cell receptors (TCRs) against 5 different mutations from one patient and a highly potent MHC class II-restricted KRASG12V-reactive TCR from a second patient. In addition, in a metastatic tumor sample from a patient with serous ovarian cancer, we isolated 3 MHC class II-restricted TCRs targeting the TP53G245S hot-spot mutation. In conclusion, this approach provides a highly sensitive platform to isolate clinically relevant neoantigen-reactive T cells or their TCRs for cancer treatment

Identification of Neoantigen-Reactive Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Primary Bladder Cancer

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are effective in treating a variety of malignancies, including metastatic bladder cancer. A generally accepted hypothesis suggests that ICIs induce tumor regressions by reactivating a population of endogenous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that recognize cancer neoantigens. Although previous studies have identified neoantigen-reactive TILs from several types of cancer, no study to date has shown whether or not neoantigen-reactive TILs can be found in bladder tumors. To address this, we generated TIL cultures from patients with primary bladder cancer and tested their ability to recognize tumor-specific mutations. We found that CD4+ TILs from one patient recognized mutated C-terminal binding protein 1 (CTBP1Q277R) in an MHC class II-restricted manner. This finding suggests that neoantigen-reactive TILs reside in bladder cancer, which may help explain the effectiveness of immune checkpoint blockade in this disease, and also provides a rationale for the future use of adoptive T-cell therapy targeting neoantigens in bladder cancer

Exploring the Immunogenicity of Noncanonical HLA-I Tumor Ligands Identified through Proteogenomics

Purpose: Tumor antigens are central to antitumor immunity. Recent evidence suggests that peptides from noncanonical (nonC) aberrantly translated proteins can be presented on HLA-I by tumor cells. Here, we investigated the immunogenicity of nonC tumor HLA-I ligands (nonC-TL) to better understand their contribution to cancer immunosurveillance and their therapeutic applicability. Experimental Design: Peptides presented on HLA-I were iden-tified in 9 patient-derived tumor cell lines from melanoma, gyneco-logic, and head and neck cancer through proteogenomics. A total of 507 candidate tumor antigens, including nonC-TL, neoantigens, cancer-germline, or melanocyte differentiation antigens, were tested for T-cell recognition of preexisting responses in patients with cancer. Donor peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) were in vitro sensitized against 170 selected nonC-TL to isolate antigen-specific T-cell recep-tors (TCR) and evaluate their therapeutic potential.Rudolf Virchow Center, Center for Integrative and Transla- tional Bioimaging, Julius-Maximilians-University Wueurorzburg, Wueurorzburg, German

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Somatic mutation of GRIN2A in malignant melanoma results in loss of tumor suppressor activity via aberrant NMDAR complex formation.

The ionotropic glutamate receptors (N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs)) are composed of large complexes of multi-protein subunits creating ion channels in the cell plasma membranes that allow for influx or efflux of mono- or divalent cations (e.g., Ca(2+)) important for synaptic transmissions, cellular migration, and survival. Recently, we discovered the high prevalence of somatic mutations within one of the ionotropic glutamate receptors, GRIN2A, in malignant melanoma. Functional characterization of a subset of GRIN2A mutants demonstrated a loss of NMDAR complex formation between GRIN1 and GRIN2A, increased anchorage-independent growth in soft agar, and increased migration. Somatic mutation of GRIN2A results in a dominant negative effect inhibiting the tumor-suppressive phenotype of wild-type (WT) GRIN2A in melanoma. Depletion of endogenous GRIN2A in melanoma cells expressing WT GRIN2A resulted in increased proliferation compared with control. In contrast, short-hairpin RNA depletion of GRIN2A in mutant cell lines slightly reduced proliferation. Our data show that somatic mutation of GRIN2A results in increased survival, and we demonstrate the functional importance of GRIN2A mutations in melanoma and the significance that ionotropic glutamate receptor signaling has in malignant melanoma