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Radiotherapy-exposed CD8+ and CD4+ neoantigens enhance tumor control
Claire Lhuillier, … , Silvia C. Formenti, Sandra Demaria
Claire Lhuillier, … , Silvia C. Formenti, Sandra Demaria
Published January 21, 2021
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2021;131(5):e138740. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI138740.
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Research Article Immunology Oncology

Radiotherapy-exposed CD8+ and CD4+ neoantigens enhance tumor control

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Abstract

Neoantigens generated by somatic nonsynonymous mutations are key targets of tumor-specific T cells, but only a small number of mutations predicted to be immunogenic are presented by MHC molecules on cancer cells. Vaccination studies in mice and patients have shown that the majority of neoepitopes that elicit T cell responses fail to induce significant antitumor activity, for incompletely understood reasons. We report that radiotherapy upregulates the expression of genes containing immunogenic mutations in a poorly immunogenic mouse model of triple-negative breast cancer. Vaccination with neoepitopes encoded by these genes elicited CD8+ and CD4+ T cells that, whereas ineffective in preventing tumor growth, improved the therapeutic efficacy of radiotherapy. Mechanistically, neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells preferentially killed irradiated tumor cells. Neoantigen-specific CD4+ T cells were required for the therapeutic efficacy of vaccination and acted by producing Th1 cytokines, killing irradiated tumor cells, and promoting epitope spread. Such a cytotoxic activity relied on the ability of radiation to upregulate class II MHC molecules as well as the death receptors FAS/CD95 and DR5 on the surface of tumor cells. These results provide proof-of-principle evidence that radiotherapy works in concert with neoantigen vaccination to improve tumor control.

Authors

Claire Lhuillier, Nils-Petter Rudqvist, Takahiro Yamazaki, Tuo Zhang, Maud Charpentier, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Noah Dephoure, Cristina C. Clement, Laura Santambrogio, Xi Kathy Zhou, Silvia C. Formenti, Sandra Demaria

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Figure 3

CAND1-specific CD8+ T cells are cytotoxic and kill preferentially irradiated 4T1 cells.

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CAND1-specific CD8+ T cells are cytotoxic and kill preferentially irradi...
Mice were vaccinated twice with adjuvant alone (Control), with HA515, or with the 3 immunogenic neoepitopes (DHX58, CAND1, and ADGRF5-II; Neo-vax). (A–C) One week after the last vaccination, mice were injected i.v. with CFSE-labeled target cells: CFSEhi cells were pulsed with indicated peptides, whereas CFSElo cells were unpulsed. Lymph nodes and spleen were harvested 24 hours later, and pulsed and unpulsed target cells were quantified by flow cytometry after gating on viable CD19+ CFSE+ cells. (A) Percentage of cytotoxicity toward HA515-paulsed target cells (n = 3 mice per group), calculated as indicated in Methods. *P < 0.05, with unpaired 2-tailed Welch’s t test. (B) Representative flow cytometry plots showing the killing of target cells in lymph nodes. (C) Percentage of cytotoxicity toward neoepitope-pulsed target cells determined in the lymph nodes and spleen (n = 3–7 mice per group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, with Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s multiple-comparison tests. Data are pooled from 2 independent experiments. (D) Vaccine-draining lymph node cells were co-cultured with CFSEhi target cells pulsed with indicated neoepitopes, whereas CFSElo cells were pulsed with WT peptides. For HA515 peptide, CFSElo cells were unpulsed. MHC-I–blocking antibody was added as indicated. After incubation for 16–18 hours, cells were harvested for flow cytometry quantification of viable CD19+CFSE+ target cells, and the percentage of cytotoxicity toward mutated versus WT peptide-loaded targets was calculated. *P < 0.05, with unpaired 2-tailed Welch’s t test. Data are representative of 2 independent experiments. (E–G) In vitro killing of 4T1 target cells was tested as described in the schema (E). (F) Representative flow plots after gating on viable CFSE+ cells. (G) Percentage of cytotoxicity toward irradiated cells versus untreated cells, calculated as described in Methods. **P < 0.01, with unpaired 2-tailed Welch’s t test. All data are expressed as mean ± SEM.

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