New tumor antigens not changed in non -coding DNA are discovered: possible turning point for immunotherapies against melanoma and lung cancer.
An international study led by Anca Apavaloaei, post-dictate researcher at the Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, has unveiled an aspect neglected of the tumor biology: most of the antigens recognized by the immune system in melanoma and in lung cancer does not derive from genetic mutations, but from portions of the genome considered until yesterday “junk dna”, That is DNA garbage.
The research, published on the prestigious magazine Nature Cancerrepresents a paradigm change compared to previous hypotheses, according to which genetic mutations were the main targets for immunological therapies.
The non -coding DNA is not so useless
Traditionally, the immunotherapy anticancer They focused on antigens deriving from specific tumor mutations. However, thanks to a approach innovative And impartial based on mass spectrometry, the Apavaloaei team has discovered that only 1% of tumor antigens derives from changed sequences. On the contrary, 584 antigens come from unused regions, and of these, 220 are exclusively present in cancer cells.
These discoveries overturn the expectations and enhance those areas of the genome which for decades have been considered without function, because they do not codify for known proteins. Today they prove to be one instead mine Of information precious for the fight against cancer.
Towards custom vaccines against lung and melanoma cancer
The new ones antigens discovered not only are there in numerous samples tumorbut they are also “immunogenic”, that is, capable of stimulating an immune response. This makes them ideal candidates for the development of vaccines therapeutic customized.
Anca Apavaloaei, today post-doc researcher at the Weill Cornell Medicine after the doctorate at the University of Montreal, explains: “These unused antigens will be subjected to further preclinical validations, with the aim of testing them in future clinical studies. We hope they can offer a clear improvement in immunotherapy treatments against melanoma and not small cell lung cancer ».
The study was carried out in collaboration with the Biotech Epiopea company and with the universities of McGill (Canada), Liegi (Belgium) and Lausanne (Switzerland). The union of skills in oncology, genomics, immunology And bioinformatics He made possible an unprecedented precision analysis.
