Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.

Innovative therapies for solid tumors are urgently needed. Recently, therapies that harness the host immune system to fight cancer cells have successfully treated a subset of patients with solid tumors. These responses have been strong and durable but observed in subsets of patients. Work from our g...

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Main Authors: Cornelia Siebenkäs, Katherine B Chiappinelli, Angela A Guzzetta, Anup Sharma, Jana Jeschke, Rajita Vatapalli, Stephen B Baylin, Nita Ahuja
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179501&type=printable
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author Cornelia Siebenkäs
Katherine B Chiappinelli
Angela A Guzzetta
Anup Sharma
Jana Jeschke
Rajita Vatapalli
Stephen B Baylin
Nita Ahuja
author_facet Cornelia Siebenkäs
Katherine B Chiappinelli
Angela A Guzzetta
Anup Sharma
Jana Jeschke
Rajita Vatapalli
Stephen B Baylin
Nita Ahuja
author_sort Cornelia Siebenkäs
collection DOAJ
description Innovative therapies for solid tumors are urgently needed. Recently, therapies that harness the host immune system to fight cancer cells have successfully treated a subset of patients with solid tumors. These responses have been strong and durable but observed in subsets of patients. Work from our group and others has shown that epigenetic therapy, specifically inhibiting the silencing DNA methylation mark, activates immune signaling in tumor cells and can sensitize to immune therapy in murine models. Here we show that colon and ovarian cancer cell lines exhibit lower expression of transcripts involved in antigen processing and presentation to immune cells compared to normal tissues. In addition, treatment with clinically relevant low doses of DNMT inhibitors (that remove DNA methylation) increases expression of both antigen processing and presentation and Cancer Testis Antigens in these cell lines. We confirm that treatment with DNMT inhibitors upregulates expression of the antigen processing and presentation molecules B2M, CALR, CD58, PSMB8, PSMB9 at the RNA and protein level in a wider range of colon and ovarian cancer cell lines and treatment time points than had been described previously. In addition, we show that DNMTi treatment upregulates many Cancer Testis Antigens common to both colon and ovarian cancer. This increase of both antigens and antigen presentation by epigenetic therapy may be one mechanism to sensitize patients to immune therapies.
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issn 1932-6203
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-ec31de65c83548388254adda72c09e372025-08-20T03:13:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01126e017950110.1371/journal.pone.0179501Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.Cornelia SiebenkäsKatherine B ChiappinelliAngela A GuzzettaAnup SharmaJana JeschkeRajita VatapalliStephen B BaylinNita AhujaInnovative therapies for solid tumors are urgently needed. Recently, therapies that harness the host immune system to fight cancer cells have successfully treated a subset of patients with solid tumors. These responses have been strong and durable but observed in subsets of patients. Work from our group and others has shown that epigenetic therapy, specifically inhibiting the silencing DNA methylation mark, activates immune signaling in tumor cells and can sensitize to immune therapy in murine models. Here we show that colon and ovarian cancer cell lines exhibit lower expression of transcripts involved in antigen processing and presentation to immune cells compared to normal tissues. In addition, treatment with clinically relevant low doses of DNMT inhibitors (that remove DNA methylation) increases expression of both antigen processing and presentation and Cancer Testis Antigens in these cell lines. We confirm that treatment with DNMT inhibitors upregulates expression of the antigen processing and presentation molecules B2M, CALR, CD58, PSMB8, PSMB9 at the RNA and protein level in a wider range of colon and ovarian cancer cell lines and treatment time points than had been described previously. In addition, we show that DNMTi treatment upregulates many Cancer Testis Antigens common to both colon and ovarian cancer. This increase of both antigens and antigen presentation by epigenetic therapy may be one mechanism to sensitize patients to immune therapies.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179501&type=printable
spellingShingle Cornelia Siebenkäs
Katherine B Chiappinelli
Angela A Guzzetta
Anup Sharma
Jana Jeschke
Rajita Vatapalli
Stephen B Baylin
Nita Ahuja
Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
PLoS ONE
title Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
title_full Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
title_fullStr Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
title_full_unstemmed Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
title_short Inhibiting DNA methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells.
title_sort inhibiting dna methylation activates cancer testis antigens and expression of the antigen processing and presentation machinery in colon and ovarian cancer cells
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179501&type=printable
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