Immunology Exam 4 Flashcards
(139 cards)
Immune surveillance
Control and elimination of malignant cells
At times tumor immunity is incapable of preventing tumor growth or is overwhelmed by how fast tumors grow
How are tumor antigens expressed?
They are displayed by class I MHC to CTL’s which then kill tumor cells
Proof immune responses against tumors inhibit tumor growth
Lymphocytic infiltrates around some tumors and enlargement of draining lymph nodes correlate with better prognosis
Proof tumor rejection shows features of adaptive immunity and is mediated by lymphocytes?
Transplants of tumors between syngeneic animals are rejected, and more rapidly if the animals have been previously exposed to that tumor; immunity to tumor transplants can be transferred by lymphocytes from a tumor bearing animal
Proof the immune system protects against the growth of tumors
Immunodeficient individuals have an increase incidence of some types of tumors
Proof tumors evade immune surveillance in part by inhibiting T cells
Therapeutic blockade of T cell inhibitory receptors such as PD-1 and CTLA-4 leads to tumor remission
Types of tumor antigens that elicit immune responses
Neoantigens encoded by randomly mutated genes, Products of oncogenes or mutated tumor suppressor genes, Aberrantly expressed or overexpressed structurally normal proteins, and viral antigens
Neoantigens
Encoded by randomly mutated genes unrelated to tumorigenesis (passenger mutations)
Causes genetic instability of malignant cells
Neoantigens are the mutated proteins expressed from the passenger mutations
Not present in normal cells
Will not induce tolerance since they are not expressed in normal cells
Mutated protein antigens can be recognized by T cells if peptides take the mutated amino acid sequence and display it by an MHC molecule
Passenger mutations
Mutations that play no role in tumorigenesis
Expression of mutated proteins (neoantigens)
Number of these mutations determines the strength of the antitumor responses patients mount and the effectiveness of immunotherapies that enhance the responses
Products of oncogenes or mutated tumor suppressor genes
Caused by driver mutations
All of these mutations in the amino acids of these mutated proteins are all seen as foreign
Driver mutations
Mutations in genes that are involved in the process of malignant transformation
Aberrantly expressed or overexpressed structurally normal proteins
Protein expression that is dysregulated by tumor cells
Their expression could be enough to make them immunogenic
Self proteins expressed only in embryonic tissues may not induce tolerance but of the same proteins are expressed in tumors they may be recognized as foreign by the immune system
Viral antigens
Tumors caused by oncogenic viruses
The tumor antigens may be encoded by the viruses
Ex. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and human papillomavirus (HPV)
What is the role of CTLs in tumor rejected in animal models?
Tumors can be destroyed by transferring tumor-reactive CD8+ cells into tumor bearing animals
Abundant CTL infiltration predicts a more favorable clinical course compared with tumors with sparse CTLs
How can tumors of different cell types stimulate CTL responses?
Apoptosis tumor cells or proteins released from necrotic tumor cells or proteins released from necrotic tumor cells are ingested by hosts dendritic cell to undergo cross-presentation
DCs can also present ingested tumor peptides via class II MHC
Therefore CD4 and CD8 cells can recognize tumor antigens
Not known how APCs get costimulators to activate T cells
How are T cells activated with costimulators for tumor cells?
When tumor cells grow, they take up room and nutrients/blood from normal tissue
These healthy cells could be injured and therefore die
This would release DAMPs to activate the innate immune system
Therefore costimulators would be produced
Ways body kills tumor cells
(Think simple)
Antitumor CD4 cells, especially Th1 cells
Th1 cells activate macrophages.
Macrophages and NK cells are capable of killing tumor cells
Antitumor antibodies are also present in cancer patients
Ways tumors evade immune system
- Stop expressing class I MHC so peptides cannot be shown to CD8 cells
Ex. Mutations in beta2-micro globulin which is part of MHC complex - Can inhibit T cell activation by over-expressing proteins such as PD-1 or induce their expression.
Can cause repeated stimulation of T cells to cause immune system to express PD-1. CD8 cells then experience exhaustion and do not attack antigen anymore. - Can induce Tregs to inhibit DCs from doing their job
Can also induce myeloid derived suppressor cells
Will inhibit activation of Th1 and CD8 - Can secrete immunosuppressive cytokines like TGF-beta
Current strategies for cancer immunotherapy
Use of specific antitumor antibodies,
Introduction of autologous T cells that recognize tumor antigens,
Enhancing existing host antitumor T cell immune responses by administering antibodies that block inhibitory molecules,
Vaccination with tumor antigens
Passive immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies
Antibodies bind to antigens on the surface of the tumors and activate host effector mechanisms such as phagocytes, NK cells, and the complement system
Types of adoptive T cell therapy
Adoptive therapy with autologous tumor specific T cells, and Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) expressing T cells
Adoptive therapy with autologous tumor specific T cells
T cells are isolated from patient
Expanded by culture with growth factors and injected into patient
They migrate to tumor and kill it
Also inject the cells with T cell stimulating cytokines like IL-2
With traditional chemo the results are inconsistent because perhaps the frequency of tumor specific T cells are too low. Might need to isolate TCRs and introducing the TCRs to autologous T cells before transfer
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) expressing T cells
Blood T cells from patient are transduced with viral vectors that encode a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)
CAR on T cells recognizes a surface antigen on tumor cells and intracellular signaling domains from the TCR
Is able to recognize antigen and send signals to T cells to activate them.
Remarkable efficiency in treating and curing B cell derived leukemias and lymphomas. Does not work as well with solid tumors without injuring normal tissues and getting to the tumor sites is hard
Pros of CAR expressing T cells for tumor treatment
Avoids the limitations of MHC restriction of TCRs. Therefore can use same CAR for different patients regardless of HLA alleles
Tumors cannot evade CAR by down-regulating MHC I
Receptors provide antigen recognition from the extra cellular Ig domain and activating signals via the induced cytoplasmic domains