Neoantigen Load and HLA-class I Expression Identify a Subgroup of Tumors with a T-cell-inflamed Phenotype and Favorable Prognosis in Homologous Recombination-proficient High-grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma

Overview

Journal J Immunother Cancer

Specialties Allergy & Immunology
Oncology
Pharmacology

Date 2020 May 29

PMID 32461346

Citations 12

Authors

Hirokazu Matsushita

Kosei Hasegawa

Katsutoshi Oda

Shogo Yamamoto

Kayo Asada

Takahiro Karasaki

Akira Yabuno

Akira Nishijima

Takahide Nejo

Yukari Kobayashi

Sho Sato

Yuji Ikeda

Manami Miyai

Yusuke Takahashi

Rui Yamaguchi

Keiichi Fujiwara

Hiroyuki Aburatani

Kazuhiro Kakimi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: There is increasing evidence for the benefit of poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in a subset of high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSC) patients, especially those with homologous recombination (HR)-deficient tumors. However, new treatment strategies, such as immune checkpoint inhibition, are required for patients with HR-proficient tumors.

Methods: A total of 80 cases of HGSC were analyzed in this study. Whole exome and RNA sequencing was performed for these tumors. Methylation arrays were also carried out to examine and promoter methylation status. Mutations, neoantigen load, antigen presentation machinery, and local immune profile were investigated, and the relationships of these factors with clinical outcome were also analyzed.

Results: As expected, the numbers of predicted neoAgs were lower in HR-proficient (n=46) than HR-deficient tumors (n=34). However, 40% of the patients with HR-proficient tumors still had higher than median numbers of neoAgs and better survival than patients with lower numbers of neoAgs. Incorporation of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-class I expression status into the survival analysis revealed that patients with both high neoAg numbers and high HLA-class I expression (neoAgHLA) had the best progression-free survival (PFS) in HR-proficient HGSC (p=0.0087). Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that the genes for effector memory CD8 T cells, TH1 T cells, the interferon-γ response, and other immune-related genes, were enriched in these patients. Interestingly, this subset of patients also had better PFS (p=0.0015) and a more T-cell-inflamed tumor phenotype than patients with the same phenotype (neoAgHLA) in HR-deficient HGSC.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that immune checkpoint inhibitors might be an alternative to explore in HR-proficient cases which currently do not benefit from PARP inhibition.

Citing Articles

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Zhou X, Ying H, Sun Y, Zhang W, Luo P, Zhu S J Pathol Clin Res. 2024; 10(5):e12391.

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