Anti-tumor immunity is driven by self vs. non-self discrimination. Many immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer have taken advantage of tumor neoantigens derived from somatic mutations. Here, we demonstrate that gene fusions are a source of immunogenic neoantigens that can mediate responses to immunotherapy. We identified an exceptional responder with metastatic head and neck cancer who experienced a complete response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, despite a low mutational load and minimal pre-treatment immune infiltration in the tumor. Using whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we identified a novel gene fusion, and demonstrated that it produces a neoantigen that can specifically elicit a host cytotoxic T cell response. In a cohort of head and neck tumors with low mutation burden, minimal immune infiltration, and prevalent gene fusions, we also identified gene fusion-derived neoantigens that generate cytotoxic T cell responses. Finally, analyzing additional datasets of fusion-positive cancers, including checkpoint inhibitor-treated tumors, we found evidence of immune surveillance resulting in negative selective pressure against gene fusion-derived neoantigens. These findings highlight an important class of tumor-specific antigens, and have implications for targeting gene fusion events in cancers that would otherwise be less poised for response to immunotherapy, including cancers with low mutational load and minimal immune infiltration.

The liposomal delivery of cancer therapeutics, including gene therapy vectors, is an area of intense study. Poor penetration of liposomes into interstitial tumor spaces remains a problem, however. In this work, the penetration of different liposomal formulations into prostate carcinoma spheroids was examined.

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A stem-like subpopulation existed in GBM cells, called glioma stem cells (GSCs), might contribute to cancer invasion, angiogenesis, immune evasion, and therapeutic resistance, providing a rationale to eliminate GSCs population and their supporting niche for successful GBM treatment. LincRNA-p21, a novel regulator of cell proliferation, apoptosis and DNA damage response, is found to be downregulated in several types of tumor. However, little is known about the role of lincRNA-p21 in stemness and radioresistance of GSCs and its regulating mechanisms. In this study, we found that lincRNA-p21 negatively regulated the expression and activity of β-catenin in GSCs. Downregulation of lincRNA-p21 in GSCs was resulted from upregulation of Hu antigen R (HuR) expression caused by miR-146b-5p downregulation. MiR-146b-5p overexpression increased apoptosis and radiosensitivity, decreased cell viability, neurosphere formation capacity and stem cell marker expression, and induced differentiation in GSCs. Moreover, knock-down lincRNA-p21 or HuR and β-catenin overexpression could rescue the phenotypic changes resulted from miR-146b-5p overexpression in GSCs. These findings suggest that targeting the miR-146b-5p/HuR/lincRNA-p21/β-catenin signaling pathway may be valuable therapeutic strategies against glioma.

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Glioma stem cells (GSCs) exhibit stem cell properties and high resistance to radiotherapy. The main aim of our study was to determine the roles of ROS in radioresistance and stemness of GSCs. We found that microRNA (miR)-153 was down-regulated and its target gene nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2) was up-regulated in GSCs compared with that of non-GSCs glioma cells. The enhanced Nrf-2 expression increased glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) transcription and decreased ROS level leading to radioresistance of GSCs. MiR-153 overexpression resulted in increased ROS production and radiosensitization of GSCs. Moreover, miR-153 overexpression led to decreased neurosphere formation capacity and stem cell marker expression, and induced differentiation through ROS-mediated activation of p38 MAPK in GSCs. Nrf-2 overexpression rescued the decreased stemness and radioresistance resulting from miR-153 overexpression in GSCs. In addition, miR-153 overexpression reduced tumorigenic capacity of GSCs and increased survival in mice bearing human GSCs. These findings demonstrated that miR-153 overexpression decreased radioresistance and stemness of GSCs through targeting Nrf-2/GPx1/ROS pathway.