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Identification of epitopes in ovalbumin that provide insights for cancer neoepitopes
Sukrut Hemant Karandikar, John Sidney, Alessandro Sette, Mark Joseph Selby, Alan Jerry Korman, Pramod Kumar Srivastava
Sukrut Hemant Karandikar, John Sidney, Alessandro Sette, Mark Joseph Selby, Alan Jerry Korman, Pramod Kumar Srivastava
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Research Article Immunology

Identification of epitopes in ovalbumin that provide insights for cancer neoepitopes

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Abstract

MHC I–restricted epitopes of chicken ovalbumin (OVA) were originally identified using CD8+ T cells as probes. Here, using bioinformatics tools, we identify 4 additional epitopes in OVA in addition to a cryptic epitope. Each additional epitope is presented in vivo, as deduced from the lack of CD8+ T cell response to it in OVA-transgenic mice. In addition, CD8 responses to the previously known epitopes and those identified in this study are examined in C57BL/6J mice exposed to the OVA-expressing tumor E.G7 in several ways. No responses to any epitope, including SIINFEKL, are detected in mice with growing E.G7 or mice immunized with the tumor. Only in E.G7-bearing mice treated with an anti–CTLA-4 antibody, which depletes tumor-infiltrating regulatory T cells, are CD8 responses to SIINFEKL and the epitope EKYNLTSVL identified in this study detected. Finally, all epitopes fail to treat mice with preexisting tumors. These observations force an important reconsideration of the common assumptions about the therapeutic value of neoepitopes detected by CD8 responses in tumor-bearing hosts.

Authors

Sukrut Hemant Karandikar, John Sidney, Alessandro Sette, Mark Joseph Selby, Alan Jerry Korman, Pramod Kumar Srivastava

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Figure 2

MHC I–restricted epitypicity of OVA.

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MHC I–restricted epitypicity of OVA.
(A) CD8+ T cell responses to OVA el...
(A) CD8+ T cell responses to OVA elicited in C57BL/6J mice immunized with OVA emulsified with TiterMax. Responses against each of the putative (blue) and the previously known (red) epitopes of OVA (as listed in Table 1) were tested as in Figure 1. NS indicates no restimulation. P values reflect the significance of difference in percentage IFN-γ–expressing CD44hiCD8+ T cells between NS and peptide-stimulated cultures (n = 5; experiment performed 3 times; Welch’s t test). (B) Inability of irradiated E.G7 cells to elicit CD8+ T cell responses against itself or OVA. CD8+ T cells from LNs of immunized mice were stimulated with splenocytes pulsed with indicated peptide or EL4 or E.G7 cells for 12 hours. P values indicate significance of difference between cultures stimulated with the indicated peptide or cells (n = 3 for E.G7-immunized mice, n = 2 for OVA-immunized mice; experiment performed 4 times; unpaired t test). (C) Extended variants of peptide 250–258 are immunogenic. Mice were immunized with precise peptide (labeled 250 or 99), extended peptides with 10 (10-250-10 or 10-99-10) or 20 (20-250-20 or 20-250-20) flanking amino acids on either termini, or whole OVA. Responses to 250–258 and 99–107 were tested as in Figure 1 (n = 4 for 250 and OVA, n = 5 for 10-250-10 and 20-250-20 in left panel; n = 4 for all sets in the right panel; experiment performed 2 times; Welch’s t test). *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001.

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