Prophylactic cancer vaccine,from concept to reality？

The demonstration that for infectious diseasesvaccine-induced immunity is in principle only effectivebefore rather than after infection occurs, provides valuableinsights in understanding the nature of immune system andthe challenges in cancer treatment. Besides the alreadyknown underlying counter-back mechanisms, the astro-nomical numbers of tumor cells in established tumorscould overwhelm the limited amount of specific T cellsinduced by vaccination, which may account for the modestefficiency of immunotherapy against cancer. We speculatethat the long window period for cancer development willallow immune-intervening strategies （e.g., the proper pro-phylactic vaccination） to promote adaptive mechanismstoward an enhanced immunosurveillance, which couldeffectively eradicate or at least control the few precancer-ous cells undergoing neoplastic transformation during earlypremalignant stages in cancer development, and protect thehost from lethal tumor formation. It should be emphasizedthat the pre-cancer-associated antigens but not the tumor-associated antigens seem to be the suitable antigens fordesigning prophylactic cancer vaccines. In addition, anideal prophylactic cancer vaccine may contain multiplepre-cancer-associated antigens, which will provide broadand effective immune protection in a heterogeneous humanpopulation. Finally, we demonstrated that placenta-derivedgp96, which can be readily obtained in high amount forvaccination, has the ability to initiate antitumor T-cellimmunity via association with multiple embryo-cancerantigens. Further understanding placental gp96 associatedwith carcinoembryonic antigen repertoires that orchestrateimmune defense networks against cancer formation willallow to provide an effective prophylactic approach incancer prevention.     

Development of a nano-immunomodulator encapsulating R837 and caffeine for combined radio-/immunotherapy against orthotopic breast cancer

Immunotherapy is an ascendant approach in cancer treatment. It shows more pronounced effects on killing cancer cells in a specific manner in particular against metastasis more than traditional techniques, such as chemotherapy or surgery. However, tumor immunosuppression limits the response of the immune system to cancer development. In this study, we developed a lipid-based nanocarrier doubly loaded with imiquimod (R837), a toll-like receptor 7 agonist, and caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist. This R837/caffeine loaded nanocarrier served as a nano-immunomodulator (RC-nIM) for combination treatment with radiotherapy (RT) against orthotopic breast cancer. RT-induced immunogenic cell death facilitated the production of tumor antigen and elicited the immune response in corporation with R837-medaited activation of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) while RC-nIMs being adopted. Additionally, caffeine, an adenosine analog, can successfully compete with adenosine in the tumor. The tumor-bearing mice that received RT together with RC-nIMs experienced the best antitumor effects and exhibited higher levels of T cells and APCs within the tumor; the growth of secondary tumors was also limited. This work serves as a proof-of-concept study for the development of a new immunotherapy strategy against cancer.     

Macrophage binding of Staphylococcus albus is blocked by anti I-region alloantibody

Cell surface interactions involving carbohydrate may be important in immune recognition. Previous work from this laboratory has demonstrated the presence of 'lectin-like' receptors on mouse peritoneal macrophages that bind bacteria by means of their cell wall sugars. Others have shown that Ia molecules can bind antigen at specific sites which may be involved in presenting antigen to the immune system and recent work has shown that these molecules can carry carbohydrate determinants. It has also been found that human Ia molecules can bind to carbohydrates. As cell surface carbohydrate recognition mechanisms have been implicated in other immune interactions sugar-specific receptors may have a function in self--non-self recognition. We show here that the binding of the bacterium Staphylococcus albus to mouse peritoneal macrophages was inhibited by various conventional and monoclonal antibodies to Ia antigens suggesting that an I-region gene product may be associated with the binding of unopsonized bacteria.     

糖生物学--生命科学研究的新热点

糖生物学是糖的化学和生物学研究相结合而产生的一门新兴学科，近20年来，糖生物学研究取得了很多重要成就．介绍了糖生物学的重要进展及热点，包括糖链在新生肽链折叠过程中、在免疫系统中的作用和糖链与微生物感染等．目前许多国家对糖生物学研究都给予了足够的支持和重视，糖生物学已成为生命科学研究的前沿和新热点．     

Cancer exome analysis reveals a T-cell-dependent mechanism of cancer immunoediting

Cancer immunoediting, the process by which the immune system controls tumour outgrowth and shapes tumour immunogenicity, is comprised of three phases: elimination, equilibrium and escape. Although many immune components that participate in this process are known, its underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. A central tenet of cancer immunoediting is that T-cell recognition of tumour antigens drives the immunological destruction or sculpting of a developing cancer. However, our current understanding of tumour antigens comes largely from analyses of cancers that develop in immunocompetent hosts and thus may have already been edited. Little is known about the antigens expressed in nascent tumour cells, whether they are sufficient to induce protective antitumour immune responses or whether their expression is modulated by the immune system. Here, using massively parallel sequencing, we characterize expressed mutations in highly immunogenic methylcholanthrene-induced sarcomas derived from immunodeficient Rag2(-/-) mice that phenotypically resemble nascent primary tumour cells. Using class I prediction algorithms, we identify mutant spectrin-β2 as a potential rejection antigen of the d42m1 sarcoma and validate this prediction by conventional antigen expression cloning and detection. We also demonstrate that cancer immunoediting of d42m1 occurs via a T-cell-dependent immunoselection process that promotes outgrowth of pre-existing tumour cell clones lacking highly antigenic mutant spectrin-β2 and other potential strong antigens. These results demonstrate that the strong immunogenicity of an unedited tumour can be ascribed to expression of highly antigenic mutant proteins and show that outgrowth of tumour cells that lack these strong antigens via a T-cell-dependent immunoselection process represents one mechanism of cancer immunoediting.     

免疫治疗现重要突破,靶向药物创历史进展——2017年癌症治疗热点回眸

 癌症治疗在2017年迎来了一系列新的希望,其中最为重要的是CAR-T治疗的正式登场,两种靶向CD19的CAR-T细胞获得对复发性/难治性B细胞急性淋巴细胞白血病以及大B细胞淋巴癌治疗的批准。同时,免疫检查点抑制剂也获得更多实体瘤适应症的批准,尤其是将MSI-H或dMMR作为生物标志物,作为临床治疗的指导。在靶向治疗方面,一些新的药物获得批准,比如FLT3突变抑制剂Midostaurin与化疗的联合使用,是25年来FDA首次批准的AML新药。此外,在临床研究中也出现一些比较激动人心的结果,癌症疫苗在黑色素瘤的治疗中获得了突破。本文将对这些热点研究结果进行回顾性综述。     

Specific immune responses induced by a multi-epitope antigen of hepatitis C virus in mice and rabbits

Five highly conserved and immunogenic epitopes of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been chosen to form a multi-epitope antigen gene and fused with β-galactosidase gene to express a hybrid GZ-PCX antigen, which could be specifically recognized by human HCV sera. High level of anti-GZ-PCX IgG has been induced when mice or rabbits were immunized with GZ-PCX antigen emulsificated with complete Freund’s adjuvant or mixed with killed attenuatedSalmonella typhimurium SL3261. The specific anti-GZ-PCX IgG reached a high titer of 10^-6, which remained for several months. Specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effects, delayed type hypersensitivity reaction (DTH) and proliferation of peripheral lymphocytes have been induced by GZ-PCX antigen or synthetic peptides. High level of anti-GZ-PCX slgG has been detected in mice’s intestinal washing fluids, which indicates that the antigen induced mucosal immunity as well as systematic immunity. The studies show that the HCV multi-epitope antigen induces high level of specific immune responses without obvious toxicity, which might be able to provide protectivity to any HCV genotypes and isolates.     

Tumour prevention and rejection with recombinant vaccinia

Tumour-specific antigens (TSA; ref. 1) have been exploited in the diagnosis and imaging of human cancer and anti-TSA antibodies have therapeutic potential. Vaccination with TSA or anti-idiotypic (TSA) antibodies has also been used to control tumour growth in model systems. An effective immune response nevertheless demands copresentation of antigen with host histocompatibility determinants. We therefore examined whether live vaccinia virus recombinants expressing TSA in cells of the vaccinated host might better elicit tumour immunity. Polyoma virus (PY) is tumorigenic in rodents; because killed PY-transformed cells can elicit tumour immunity, a PY-specific TSA has been postulated. Tumorigenesis involves expression of three early PY proteins, large-T (LT), middle-T (MT) and small-T (ST), but their role as TSAs is unclear. We therefore expressed the three T proteins in separate vaccinia recombinants. Rejection of PY tumours was observed in rats immunized with recombinants expressing either LT or MT. Further, tumour-bearing animals could be induced to reject their tumours by inoculation of recombinants.     

Advances in identification and application of tumor antigen inducing anti-cancer responses

Tumor antigen is one of the important bases of tumor immunotherapy . With the discovery of novel tumor antigens, interest in specific immunotherapy for treatment of malignancies has increased substantially. Nowadays more and more scientists paid close attention to various tumor antigens with their roles or/and applications in anti-cancer immune responses, immune tolerance, tumor markers,     

Co-adjuvant effects of retinoic acid and IL-15 induce inflammatory immunity to dietary antigens

Under physiological conditions the gut-associated lymphoid tissues not only prevent the induction of a local inflammatory immune response, but also induce systemic tolerance to fed antigens. A notable exception is coeliac disease, where genetically susceptible individuals expressing human leukocyte antigen (HLA) HLA-DQ2 or HLA-DQ8 molecules develop inflammatory T-cell and antibody responses against dietary gluten, a protein present in wheat. The mechanisms underlying this dysregulated mucosal immune response to a soluble antigen have not been identified. Retinoic acid, a metabolite of vitamin A, has been shown to have a critical role in the induction of intestinal regulatory responses. Here we find in mice that in conjunction with IL-15, a cytokine greatly upregulated in the gut of coeliac disease patients, retinoic acid rapidly activates dendritic cells to induce JNK (also known as MAPK8) phosphorylation and release the proinflammatory cytokines IL-12p70 and IL-23. As a result, in a stressed intestinal environment, retinoic acid acted as an adjuvant that promoted rather than prevented inflammatory cellular and humoral responses to fed antigen. Altogether, these findings reveal an unexpected role for retinoic acid and IL-15 in the abrogation of tolerance to dietary antigens.     

Molecular genetic basis of the histo-blood group ABO system

The histo-blood group ABO, the major human alloantigen system, involves three carbohydrate antigens (ABH). A, B and AB individuals express glycosyltransferase activities converting the H antigen into A or B antigens, whereas O(H) individuals lack such activity. Here we present a molecular basis for the ABO genotypes. The A and B genes differ in a few single-base substitutions, changing four amino-acid residues that may cause differences in A and B transferase specificity. A critical single-base deletion was found in the O gene, which results in an entirely different, inactive protein incapable of modifying the H antigen.     

Demonstration by monoclonal antibodies that carbohydrate structures of glycoproteins and glycolipids are onco-developmental antigens

The hope that hybridoma antibodies would reveal unique cell surface antigens during embryogenesis, differentiation and oncogenesis has been replaced by the realization that such antigens are mainly carbohydrate structures of glycoproteins and glycolipids occurring in many cell types. These findings either may reflect limitations in the methods of selection of hybridoma antibodies or may point to important roles for the diverse carbohydrate structures as receptors for regulators of cell growth and differentiation.     

改良性柑橘果胶通过下调Galectin-3抑制膀胱癌细胞生长

目的 检测改良性柑橘(MCP)对人膀胱癌增殖和生长的抑制作用。方法 MTT检测膀胱癌细胞T24和J82细胞的活性。Western blot 检测T24和J82细胞中凋亡蛋白cv Caspase-3和cv PARP以及Galectin-3蛋白的表达水平。建立膀胱癌T24细胞皮下移植瘤裸鼠模型,灌胃MCP后,比较各组肿瘤重量和体积大小,免疫组化的方法检测各组别的增殖蛋白Ki67和凋亡蛋白cv Caspase-3以及Galectin-3蛋白表达水平的差异性。显微镜观察分析结果。结果 MTT结果证实MCP对人膀胱癌细胞T24和J82细胞活力有抑制作用(P<0.05)。Western blot证实浓度为2.0% 的MCP组别中膀胱癌细胞凋亡蛋白表达明显增高。灌胃MCP对 T24移植瘤荷瘤裸鼠的肿瘤体积和重量均有明显的抑制(P<0.05), 免疫组织化学染色定量分析表示700mg/kg组荷瘤鼠组织内Ki67和Caspase-3证实增殖指数降低(P<0.05), 其潜在靶点Galectin-3表达降低。结论 本课题研究显示MCP对膀胱癌细胞的增殖和存活的显著抑制作用,且Galectin-3表达降低。故MCP作为一种天然的膳食纤维,同样可以作为药物预防和治疗膀胱癌。     

SB-restricted presentation of influenza and herpes simplex virus antigens to human T-lymphocyte clones

The HLA-D region of the human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been shown to be homologous to the murine I region in terms of both structure and function. Both regions encode class II MHC molecules which restrict T-lymphocyte interactions with antigen-presenting cells. We have recently described the MHC restriction and antigen specificities of human T-lymphocyte clones directed at strain A influenza virus. The majority of T-lymphocyte clones recognized antigen in the context of cell surface interaction products encoded by HLA-D/DR genes. However, a few clones recognized antigen presented by cells histoincompatible for D/DR antigens. We report here that some of these clones recognized viral antigens in association with antigens encoded by genes identical with or closely linked to the recently described secondary B-cell (SB) locus of the MHC. This is the first report that SB-restricted antigen recognition may form an integral part of normal, human immune responses.     

Microplate chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay for the quantitative evaluation of carbohydrate antigen 72-4 in human serum

A highly sensitive and specific microplate chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay （CLEIA） was developed for the quantitative evaluation of carbohydrate antigen 72-4 （CA72-4） in human serum, using luminol-H2O2 catalyzed by horseradish peroxidase （HRP） as the chemiluminescence system. The simple and quick determination was accomplished through a sandwich reaction mode. Several physicochemical parameters of the immunoreaction, including incubation conditions, antibody coating conditions, dilution ratio of anti-CA72-4-HRP conjugate, and chemiluminescence reaction time, were studied and optimized. The proposed method exhibited a linear range of 0-200 U/mL with correlation coefficient and detection limit of 0.9995 and 0.18 U/mL, respectively. The inter-assay and intra-assay coefficients of variation （CV） were both less than 10%. The average recovery of two clinical sera with low and high concentration CA72-4 was 99.3% and 98.7%, respectively. Normal tumor markers, including AFP, CEA, CA24-2, CA19-9 and CA15-3, did not cross-react with each other. The method＇s stability was evaluated by assessing its analytical performance after storing the immunoreagents at 4℃ and 37℃ for 7 days. Little difference was found, indicating satisfactory stability of the method. The present method has been successfully applied to the detection of CA72-4 human serum, and showed a good correlation with the commercially available ELISA kit （r^2=0.9383）. This method showed great potential in the fabrication of diagnostic kit for CA72-4, and could be well used in diagnosis of cancer in clinical practice.     

补糖与运动后糖原合成

论述了补糖时间对补糖数量及种类对运动员肝、肌糖原合成的影响，并对肌肉损伤与糖原合成、运动后补糖与运动能力的关系进行了讨论     

用自身血清抗体筛选人肝细胞肝癌抗原

为了从分子水平上筛选肝细胞肝癌抗原，应用作者所在实验室创建的“重组克隆表达抗原的血清学鉴定技术”（ＳＥＲＥＸｓｅｒｏｌｏｇｉｃａｌｉｎｄｅｎｔｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎｏｆａｎｔｉｇｅｎｓｂｙｒｅｃｏｍｂｉｎａｎｔｅｘｐｒｅｓｉｏｎｃｌｏｎｉｎｇ）筛选人肝细胞肝癌（ＨＣＣ）组织构建的ｃＤＮＡ文库，发现了许多与病人，自身血清高滴度抗体反应的克隆。应用多种异体（其他ＨＣＣ病人，多种非ＨＣＣ肿瘤病人，Ｂ型、Ｃ型病毒性肝炎病人，肝硬化病人以及健康人）血清反应分析表明，高滴度抗体反应多数出现在ＨＣＣ病人。参照基因库寻找这些克隆的同源结构，发现其中许多抗原为至今未知基因所编码。进一步的血清和抗原分子分析将为ＨＣＣ特异免疫治疗和诊断提供基础资料     

新的糖/茂钛化合物的合成及其生物活性研究

用4种含糖基团取代二氯化二茂钛中的氯,合成了4种新的糖/茂钛化合物:乳糖酸根一氯化二茂钛C12H21O12.C10H10TiCl,质酸根一氯化二茂钛C14H20NO11.C10H10TiCl.8H2O,乳糖酸根一质酸根二茂钛C12H21O12.C14H20NO11.C10H10Ti.26H2O和乳糖酸酰胺乙酸根一氯化二茂钛C14H24NO13C10H10TiCl.化合物都经过红外光谱、核磁共振、元素分析表征,并用MTT法研究了化合物对人体子宫颈癌细胞增殖体外实验.研究表明新合成的化合物都溶于水,对癌细胞有很好的抑制作用,糖结构的引入有明显的肝靶向效应.     

Class II MHC molecules can use the endogenous pathway of antigen presentation

Models for antigen presentation have divided the world of antigens into two categories, endogenous and exogenous, presented to T cells by class I and class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) encoded molecules, respectively. Exogenous antigens are though to be taken up into peripheral endosomal compartments where they are processed for binding to class II MHC molecules. Endogenous antigens are either synthesized or efficiently delivered to the cytoplasm before being partially degraded in an as yet undefined way, and complexed with class I MHC molecules. A useful phenotypic distinction between the two pathways has been the sensitivity to weak bases, such as chloroquine, which is a property only of the exogenous pathway. The fungal antibiotic brefeldin A (BFA), which blocks protein transport from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi network, also blocks class I-restricted antigen-presentation, providing us with the corresponding marker of the endogenous pathway. Experiments with influenza virus antigens have supported the view that class II MHC molecules can present exogenous but not endogenous antigen, whereas the observation that class II MHC molecules present measles virus non-membrane antigens by a chloroquine-insensitive pathway suggests that this is not always the case. We show here that influenza A matrix protein can be effectively presented to class II-restricted T cells by two pathways: one of which is chloroquine-sensitive, BFA-insensitive, the other being chloroquine-insensitive and BFA-sensitive. Our results indicate that both class I and class II molecules can complex with antigenic peptides in a pre-Golgi compartment and favour a unified mechanism for MHC-restricted endogenous antigen presentation.