Vestigial-like 1 is a shared targetable cancer-placenta antigen expressed by pancreatic and basal-like breast cancers

Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 21;11(1):5332. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19141-w.

Abstract

Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-based cancer immunotherapies have shown great promise for inducing clinical regressions by targeting tumor-associated antigens (TAA). To expand the TAA landscape of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), we performed tandem mass spectrometry analysis of HLA class I-bound peptides from 35 PDAC patient tumors. This identified a shared HLA-A*0101 restricted peptide derived from co-transcriptional activator Vestigial-like 1 (VGLL1) as a putative TAA demonstrating overexpression in multiple tumor types and low or absent expression in essential normal tissues. Here we show that VGLL1-specific CTLs expanded from the blood of a PDAC patient could recognize and kill in an antigen-specific manner a majority of HLA-A*0101 allogeneic tumor cell lines derived not only from PDAC, but also bladder, ovarian, gastric, lung, and basal-like breast cancers. Gene expression profiling reveals VGLL1 as a member of a unique group of cancer-placenta antigens (CPA) that may constitute immunotherapeutic targets for patients with multiple cancer types.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Neoplasm / genetics
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / immunology
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics
  • Breast Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / genetics
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / immunology
  • Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal / therapy
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / immunology*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • HLA-A1 Antigen / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy, Adoptive
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / genetics
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Pancreatic Neoplasms / therapy
  • Placenta / immunology
  • Pregnancy
  • Prognosis
  • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / immunology*

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • HLA-A*01:01 antigen
  • HLA-A1 Antigen
  • Transcription Factors
  • VGLL1 protein, human