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Ghosh, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Ghosh, M..

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Mutant p53 suppresses innate immune signaling to promote tumorigenesis

Mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor occur very frequently in human cancer. Often, such mutations lead to the constitutive overproduction of mutant p53 (mtp53) proteins, which can exert a cancer-promoting gain-of-function (GOF). We have identified a novel mechanism by which mtp53 controls both cell-autonomous and non-cell autonomous signaling to promote cancer cell survival and suppress tumor immune surveillance. Mtp53 interferes with the function of the cytoplasmic DNA sensing machinery, cGAS-STING-TBK1-IRF3, that controls the activation of the innate immune response. We find that mtp53, but not wildtype p53, binds to TANK binding protein kinase (TBK1) and inhibits both its basal and agonist-induced activity. The association of mtp53 with TBK1 prevents the formation of a trimeric complex between TBK1-STING-IRF3, which is required for activation, nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of IRF3. Mtp53 knockdown restores TBK1 activity, resulting in the transcriptional induction of IRF3 target genes and IRF3-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, inactivation of innate immune signaling by mtp53 alters cytokine production resulting in immune evasion. Restored TBK1 signaling was sufficient to bypass mtp53 and reactivate cell-autonomous and non-cell autonomous tumor control. Thus, overriding mtp53s inhibition of this cytosolic DNA sensing pathway may ultimately lead to restored immune cell function and cancer cell eradication.

cancer biology↗

Antigens in water-in-oil emulsion: a simple antigen extraction method for analysis and proof of equal antigen distribution in vaccination syringe after mixture

Therapeutic vaccination of antigens in oil emulsions is an approach becoming increasingly popular. Water-in-oil emulsions enable the formation of a depot, a slow passive antigen release and a decelerated antigen degradation. Furthermore, particularly advantageous for peptide vaccinations with a low clinical response rate is the increased immunogenicity and activation of CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells. Therefore, the use of personalized peptide vaccination cocktails in oil emulsions are tested in the treatment of cancer patients. An equal peptide distribution in the emulsion is striking for a successful depot effect to ensure the optimal efficacy and additionally, to enable reliable drug release analytics. First, the stability of the generated peptide-Montanide ISA51 emulsion was demonstrated with a cocktail of heterogeneous peptides for 24 h in room temperature. Furthermore, we developed a simple peptide extraction method to investigate the equal peptide distribution in a Montanide ISA51 emulsion in the syringe after mixing. Peptides were successfully extracted from a peptide-Montanide ISA51 vaccination cocktail in sufficient volume for analysis and an equal peptide distribution in the syringe was verified via HPLC.

pharmacology and toxicology↗

Validation of a high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry immunopeptidomics assay for the identification of HLA class I ligands suitable for pharmaceutical therapies

For more than two decades naturally presented, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted peptides (immunopeptidome) have been eluted and sequenced using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Since, identified disease-associated HLA ligands have been characterized and evaluated as potential active substances. Treatments based on HLA-presented peptides have shown promising results in clinical application as personalized T cell-based immunotherapy. Peptide vaccination cocktails are produced as investigational medicinal products under GMP conditions. In order to support clinical trials based on HLA-presented tumor-associated antigens, in this study the sensitive LC-MS/MS HLA class I antigen identification pipeline was fully validated for our technical equipment according to the current US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) guidelines.\n\nThe immunopeptidomes of JY cells with or without spiked-in, isotope labeled peptides, of peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy volunteers as well as a chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a bladder cancer sample were reliably identified using a data-dependent acquisition method. As the LC-MS/MS pipeline is used for identification purposes, the validation parameters include accuracy, precision, specificity, limit of detection and robustness.

immunology↗

Hierarchical Compression Reveals Sub-Second to Day-Long Structure in Larval Zebrafish Behaviour

Animal behaviour is dynamic, evolving over multiple timescales from milliseconds to days and even across a lifetime. To understand the mechanisms governing these dynamics, it is necessary to capture multi-timescale structure from behavioural data. Here, we develop computational tools and study the behaviour of hundreds of larval zebrafish tracked continuously across multiple 24-hour day/night cycles. We extracted millions of movements and pauses, termed bouts, and used unsupervised learning to reduce each larvas behaviour to an alternating sequence of active and inactive bout types, termed modules. Through hierarchical compression, we identified recurrent behavioural patterns, termed motifs. Module and motif usage varied across the day/night cycle, revealing structure at sub-second to day-long timescales. We further demonstrate that module and motif analysis can uncover novel pharmacological and genetic mutant phenotypes. Overall, our work reveals the organisation of larval zebrafish behaviour at multiple timescales and provides tools to identify structure from large-scale behavioural datasets.

neuroscience↗

Splicing inhibition enhances the antitumor immune response through increased tumor antigen presentation and altered MHC-I immunopeptidome

The success of cancer immunotherapy relies on the induction of an immunoprotective response targeting tumor antigens (TAs) presented by tumor cells on MHC class I molecules. Alternative translation events emerged as a rich source of TAs and generate the so-called Pioneer Translation Products (PTPs), which are peptides generated from unspliced mRNA. We demonstrated in vitro and in vivo that the splicing inhibitor isoginkgetin and a derived water-soluble and less toxic molecule, IP2, act at the production stage of the PTPs. We showed that IP2 increases PTP-derived antigen presentation in cancer cells in vitro and decreases tumor growth in vivo in an immune-dependent manner. Furthermore, IP2 treatment induces a long-lasting antitumor response. Finally, we observed that the epitope repertoire displayed on MHC-I molecules is altered upon treatment with IP2 with the modulation of pre-existing peptides and the emergence of novel antigens derived from both coding and allegedly non-coding sequences.\n\nSignificanceIP2 is a new efficient \"first in class\" immunomodulator of the MHC I presentation pathway. IP2 reduces the growth of sarcoma MCA205 and melanoma B16F10 tumors bearing the PTP-derived SL8 epitope and significantly extends mice survival. IP2 treatment reshape the cancer cell MHC-I immunopeptidome. These findings add to the understanding of the role of the splicing machinery in antigen production and presentation and identify the spliceosome as a druggable target to enhance cancer immunosurveillance.

immunology↗