Low Mutation Burden in Ovarian Cancer May Limit the Utility of Neoantigen-Targeted Vaccines

PLoS One. 2016 May 18;11(5):e0155189. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155189. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Due to advances in sequencing technology, somatically mutated cancer antigens, or neoantigens, are now readily identifiable and have become compelling targets for immunotherapy. In particular, neoantigen-targeted vaccines have shown promise in several pre-clinical and clinical studies. However, to date, neoantigen-targeted vaccine studies have involved tumors with exceptionally high mutation burdens. It remains unclear whether neoantigen-targeted vaccines will be broadly applicable to cancers with intermediate to low mutation burdens, such as ovarian cancer. To address this, we assessed whether a derivative of the murine ovarian tumor model ID8 could be targeted with neoantigen vaccines. We performed whole exome and transcriptome sequencing on ID8-G7 cells. We identified 92 somatic mutations, 39 of which were transcribed, missense mutations. For the 17 top predicted MHC class I binding mutations, we immunized mice subcutaneously with synthetic long peptide vaccines encoding the relevant mutation. Seven of 17 vaccines induced robust mutation-specific CD4 and/or CD8 T cell responses. However, none of the vaccines prolonged survival of tumor-bearing mice in either the prophylactic or therapeutic setting. Moreover, none of the neoantigen-specific T cell lines recognized ID8-G7 tumor cells in vitro, indicating that the corresponding mutations did not give rise to bonafide MHC-presented epitopes. Additionally, bioinformatic analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas data revealed that only 12% (26/220) of HGSC cases had a ≥90% likelihood of harboring at least one authentic, naturally processed and presented neoantigen versus 51% (80/158) of lung cancers. Our findings highlight the limitations of applying neoantigen-targeted vaccines to tumor types with intermediate/low mutation burdens.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Cancer Vaccines / immunology
  • Cancer Vaccines / therapeutic use*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Epitopes / genetics
  • Epitopes / immunology
  • Female
  • Immunotherapy
  • Major Histocompatibility Complex
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mutation Accumulation
  • Mutation*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / immunology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / therapy

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Cancer Vaccines
  • Epitopes