PRL3-zumab, a first-in-class humanized antibody for cancer therapy

Novel, tumor-specific drugs are urgently needed for a breakthrough in cancer therapy. Herein, we generated a first-in-class humanized antibody (PRL3-zumab) against PRL-3, an intracellular tumor-associated phosphatase upregulated in multiple human cancers, for unconventional cancer immunotherapies. We focused on gastric cancer (GC), wherein elevated PRL-3 mRNA levels significantly correlated with shortened overall survival of GC patients. PRL-3 protein was overexpressed in 85% of fresh-frozen clinical gastric tumor samples examined but not in patient-matched normal gastric tissues. Using human GC cell lines, we demonstrated that PRL3-zumab specifically blocked PRL-3(+), but not PRL-3(–), orthotopic gastric tumors. In this setting, PRL3-zumab had better therapeutic efficacy as a monotherapy, rather than simultaneous combination with 5-fluorouracil or 5-fluorouracil alone. PRL3-zumab could also prevent PRL-3(+) tumor recurrence. Mechanistically, we found that intracellular PRL-3 antigens could be externalized to become “extracellular oncotargets” that serve as bait for PRL3-zumab binding to potentially bridge and recruit immunocytes into tumor microenvironments for killing effects on cancer cells. In summary, our results document a comprehensive cancer therapeutic approach to specific antibody-targeted therapy against the PRL-3 oncotarget as a case study for developing antibodies against other intracellular targets in drug discovery

UGT1A6 polymorphisms modulated lung cancer risk in a Chinese population.

Uridine diphosphoglucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) 1A6 is the only UGT1A isoform expressed in lung tissue. It is responsible for the detoxification of carcinogens such as benezo[a]pyrene from cigarette smoke. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of UGT1A6 polymorphisms and haplotypes with lung cancer risk and to evaluate the functional significance of UGT1A6 polymorphisms. Genomic DNA was isolated from leukocytes. Eight UGT1A6 polymorphisms were sequenced in a test set of 72 Chinese lung cancer patients and 62 healthy controls. Potential risk modifying alleles were validated in a separate set of 95 Chinese lung cancer patients and 100 healthy controls. UGT1A6 19T>G, 541A>G and 552A>C showed significant association with increased lung cancer risk, while UGT1A6 105C>T and IVS1+130G>T were significantly associated with reduced lung cancer risk. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated a significant association of lung cancer with UGT1A6 541A>G (OR: 3.582, 95% CI: 1.27-10.04, p = 0.015), 552A>C (OR: 5.364, 95% CI: 1.92-14.96, p = 0.001) and IVS1+130G>T (OR: 0.191, 95% CI: 0.09-0.36, p<0.001). Functional test demonstrated that UGT1A6 105C>T increased mRNA stability, providing a plausible explanation of its association with reduced lung cancer risk. Thus UGT1A6 polymorphisms may be used to identify people with increased risk of developing lung cancer

HLA class I expression and its alteration by preoperative hyperthermo-chemoradiotherapy in patients with rectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Enhancing immunologic responses, including human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I expression on tumor cells and recognition and elimination of tumor cells by tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL), is considered a novel concept of radiotherapy. The present study examined patients who underwent preoperative hyperthermo-chemoradiotherapy (HCRT) for locally advanced rectal cancer to assess the correlation between HLA class I expression and clinical outcome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-eight patients with locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma who received preoperative HCRT were enrolled. The median age of the patients was 64 years (range, 33-85 years) and 4, 18, and 56 patients had clinical stage I, II and III disease, respectively. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues excised before and after HCRT were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis with an anti-HLA class I-A, B, C antibody. HLA class I expression was graded according to tumor cell positivity. RESULTS: In pre-HCRT, the number of specimens categorized as Grade 0 and 1 were 19 (24%) and 58 (74%), respectively. Only 1 patient (1%) showed Grade 2 expression. However, 6 (8%), 27 (35%), 7 (9%), and 12 (15%) post-HCRT specimens were graded as Grade 0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There was a significant increase in HLA class I expression in post-HCRT specimens (p<0.01). However, neither pre- nor post-HCRT HLA class I expression affected overall survival and distant metastasis-free survival in clinical stage III patients. Univariate analysis revealed that Post-HCRT HLA class I expression showed a significant negative relationship with LC (p<0.05). Nevertheless, multivariate analysis showed that there was no correlation between HLA class I expression and clinical outcome. CONCLUSION: HCRT increased HLA class I expression in rectal cancer patients. However, multivariate analysis failed to show any correlation between the level of HLA class I expression and prognosis

Analysis of pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) coefficients and statistics (D′) for lung cancer patients (below diagonal) and control (above diagonal) among five SNPs.

<p>Analysis of pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) coefficients and statistics (D′) for lung cancer patients (below diagonal) and control (above diagonal) among five SNPs.</p

Genotype and allele frequencies of <i>UGT1A6</i> SNPs in both first and second cohorts.

<p>Genotype and allele frequencies of <i>UGT1A6</i> SNPs in both first and second cohorts.</p

Haplotype frequency estimates and significant levels of case-control comparison from permutation tests.

*<p>P<0.05,</p>**<p>P<0.01,</p>***<p>P<0.001.</p

In vitro functional characterization of UGT1A6 105C>T polymorphism.

<p>UGT1A6*1 and UGT1A6 105TT constructs were stably transfected into HEK293 cells. (<b>A</b>) Cells were harvested upon treatment with ActD at different time point up to 24 hours. The data plotted are time course changes in the remaining amount of UGT1A6 mRNA after ActD treatment. There was significantly higher mRNA level in UGT1A6 105TT than UGT1A6*1 transfected cells at 4 hours (p = 0.039) and 8 hours (p = 0.004) after treatment with ActD. (<b>B</b>) Western blot analysis. Cell lysate used was from 5×10⁵ cells at the indicated times (0, 8, 24 and 48 hours) after treatment with ActD. There was a down-regulation in protein expression in UGT1A6*1 as compared to UGT1A6 variant at 48 hours after treatment with ActD. UGT1A6 activity was assessed by evaluating the production of serotonin glucuronide using lysate from variant UGT1A6 (VT) and UGT1A6*1 (WT) at 0 hour (<b>C</b>) and 48 hours (<b>D</b>) after ActD treatment, with substrate concentrations varied from 0.5 to 30 mM serotonin. Activities are expressed as reaction velocity (nanomoles of serotonin glucuronide formed per minute per milligram of protein).</p

Baseline characteristics of Lung cancer patients and controls.

<p>*Smoking history was not obtained for the 100 controls.</p

Expression of MHC Class I on breast cancer cells correlates inversely with HER2 expression

HER2 is a promising target for immunotherapeutic interventions with T cell-based approaches since it is amplified and overexpressed in 20–30% of breast cancers. However, several previous studies including ours showed that HER2-overexpressing tumors may escape cytotoxic T lymphocyte-mediated lysis by downregulating MHC Class I and components of the antigen-processing machinery. The aims of the present study were to analyze the relationship between HER2 and MHC Class I expression and to elucidate the mechanisms underlying MHC Class I downregulation in breast cancer. We explored expression of HER2, MHC Class I, PTEN, Ki67, estrogen and progesterone expression in 70 breast cancer patients by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and analyzed their correlation. We also explored the components of the signal transduction pathway that are involved in the regulation of MHC Class I expression using small-interfering RNAs targeting HER2 as well as an inhibitor of HER2 signaling. HER2 expression in breast cancers correlated inversely with MHC Class I expression analyzed by IHC. HER2 depletion by small-interfering RNAs resulted in MHC Class I upregulation. Moreover, MHC Class I expression on breast cancer cell lines was upregulated by PD98059, an inhibitor of mitogen-associated protein kinases, in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, agents that target the MAPK signaling pathway may increase MHC Class I expression in breast cancer cells