title: Neoantigen Load, Antigen Presentation Machinery, and Immune Signatures Determine Prognosis in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.
abstract: Tumors commonly harbor multiple genetic alterations, some of which initiate tumorigenesis. Among these, some tumor-specific somatic mutations resulting in mutated protein have the potential to induce antitumor immune responses. To examine the relevance of the latter to immune responses in the tumor and to patient outcomes, we used datasets of whole-exome and RNA sequencing from 97 clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients to identify neoepitopes predicted to be presented by each patient's autologous HLA molecules. We found that the number of nonsilent or missense mutations did not correlate with patient prognosis. However, combining the number of HLA-restricted neoepitopes with the cell surface expression of HLA or β2-microglobulin(β2M) revealed that an A-neo(hi)/HLA-A(hi) or ABC-neo(hi)/β2M(hi) phenotype correlated with better clinical outcomes. Higher expression of immune-related genes from CD8 T cells and their effector molecules [CD8A, perforin (PRF1) and granzyme A (GZMA)], however, did not correlate with prognosis. This may have been due to the observed correlation of these genes with the expression of other genes that were associated with immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment (CTLA-4, PD-1, LAG-3, PD-L1, PD-L2, IDO1, and IL10). This suggested that abundant neoepitopes associated with greater antitumor effector immune responses were counterbalanced by a strongly immunosuppressive microenvironment. Therefore, immunosuppressive molecules should be considered high-priority targets for modulating immune responses in patients with ccRCC. Blockade of these molecular pathways could be combined with immunotherapies targeting neoantigens to achieve synergistic antitumor activity. Cancer Immunol Res; 4(5); 463-71. ©2016 AACR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapeutics, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. Department of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapeutics, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kume
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Tumor Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Seishi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Homma
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunotherapeutics, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. kakimi@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kakimi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis*; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D011379:Prognosis; D059467:Transcriptome; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I