Identification of LAG3 high affinity aptamers by HT-SELEX and Conserved Motif Accumulation (CMA)

PLoS One. 2017 Sep 21;12(9):e0185169. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185169. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

LAG3 receptor belongs to a family of immune-checkpoints expressed in T lymphocytes and other cells of the immune system. It plays an important role as a rheostat of the immune response. Focus on this receptor as a potential therapeutic target in cancer immunotherapy has been underscored after the success of other immune-checkpoint blockade strategies in clinical trials. LAG3 showcases the interest in the field of autoimmunity as several studies show that LAG3-targeting antibodies can also be used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. In this work we describe the identification of a high-affinity LAG3 aptamer by High Throughput Sequencing SELEX in combination with a study of potential conserved binding modes according to sequence conservation by using 2D-structure prediction and 3D-RNA modeling using Rosetta. The aptamer with the highest accumulation of these conserved sequence motifs displays the highest affinity to LAG3 recombinant soluble proteins and binds to LAG3-expressing lymphocytes. The aptamer described herein has the potential to be used as a therapeutic agent, as it enhances the threshold of T-cell activation. Nonetheless, in future applications, it could also be engineered for treatment of autoimmune diseases by target depletion of LAG3-effector T lymphocytes.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Animals
  • Antigens, CD / chemistry*
  • Antigens, CD / metabolism*
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / genetics
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide / metabolism*
  • Base Sequence
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / metabolism
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / metabolism
  • Conserved Sequence*
  • Lymphocyte Activation
  • Lymphocyte Activation Gene 3 Protein
  • Mice
  • SELEX Aptamer Technique*

Substances

  • Antigens, CD
  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Lymphocyte Activation Gene 3 Protein
  • Lag3 protein, mouse

Grants and funding

This research is supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III FIS I+D [(PI14/01611) and (PI11/02854) (http://www.isciii.es)] and Ramon y Cajal (RYC-2012-10699) (http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es) and Melanoma Research Alliance (509510) (http://www.curemelanoma.org) to FP.