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Global analysis of shared T cell specificities in human non-small cell lung cancer enables HLA inference and antigen discovery
Open accessAbstract
To identify disease-relevant T cell receptors (TCRs) with shared antigen specificity, we analyzed 778,938 TCRβ chain sequences from 178 non-small cell lung cancer patients using the GLIPH2 (grouping of lymphocyte interactions with paratope hotspots 2) algorithm. We identified over 66,000 shared specificity groups, of which 435 were clonally expanded and enriched in tumors compared to adjacent lung. The antigenic epitopes of one such tumor-enriched specificity group were identified using a yeast peptide-HLA A ∗ 02:01 display library. These included a peptide from the epithelial protein TMEM161A, which is overexpressed in tumors and cross-reactive epitopes from Epstein-Barr virus and E. coli . Our findings suggest that this cross-reactivity may underlie the presence of virus-specific T cells in tumor infiltrates and that pathogen cross-reactivity may be a feature of multiple cancers. The approach and analytical pipelines generated in this work, as well as the specificity groups defined here, present a resource for understanding the T cell response in cancer.
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“These findings highlight virus-specific T cells in anti-tumor responses during ICB.”
From Contrasting cytotoxic and regulatory T cell responses underlying distinct clinical outcomes to anti-PD-1 plus lenvatinib therapy in cancer (2025) · cites this paper as [80]
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“and suggested in a non-viral-associated cancer.80”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chiou, S.-H., Tseng, D., Reuben, A., Mallajosyula, V., Molina, I. S., Conley, S., Wilhelmy, J., McSween, A. M., Yang, X., Nishimiya, D., Sinha, R., Nabet, B. Y., Wang, C., Shrager, J. B., Berry, M. F., Backhus, L., Lui, N. S., Wakelee, H. A., Neal, J. W., Padda, S. K., Berry, G. J., Delaidelli, A., Sorensen, P. H., Sotillo, E., Tran, P., Benson, J. A., Richards, R., Labanieh, L., Klysz, D. D., Louis, D. M., Feldman, S. A., Diehn, M., Weissman, I. L., Zhang, J., Wistuba, I. I., Futreal, P. A., Heymach, J. V., Garcia, K. C., Mackall, C. L., & Davis, M. M.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Stanford Medicine (US)
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (US)
- BC Cancer Agency (CA)
- Stanford Cancer Institute (US)
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Davis, Mark M.
- ORCID
- Chiou, Shin-Heng
- Tseng, Diane
- Reuben, Alexandre
- Mallajosyula, Vamsee
- Molina, Irene S.
- Wilhelmy, Julie
- McSween, Alana M.
- Yang, Xinbo
- Nishimiya, Daisuke
- Sinha, Rahul
- Nabet, Barzin Y.
- Wang, Chunlin
- Shrager, Joseph B.
- Berry, Mark F.
- Backhus, Leah
- Lui, Natalie S.
- Wakelee, Heather A.
- Neal, Joel W.
- Padda, Sukhmani K.
- Berry, Gerald J.
- Delaidelli, Alberto
- Sorensen, Poul H.
- Sotillo, Elena
- Benson, Jalen A.
- Richards, Rebecca
- Labanieh, Louai
- Klysz, Dorota D.
- Louis, David M.
- Feldman, Steven A.
- Diehn, Maximilian
- Weissman, Irving L.
- Zhang, Jianjun
- Wistuba, Ignacio I.
- Futreal, P. Andrew
- Heymach, John V.
- Mackall, Crystal L.
- Davis, Mark M.
- Venue
- Immunity
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-03
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 586-602.e8
- ISSN
- 1074-7613 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7960510
- OpenAlex
- W3134245065
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 77
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 10
- FWCI
- 8.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Immunity (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Rutgers University Community Repository (Rutgers University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- NCI Cancer Moonshot
- Stand up to Cancer
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
- Keywords
- non-small cell lung cancer, T cell clones, cross-reactive epitopes, Epstein-Barr virus, Escherichia coli, virus-specific T cells, tumor immunology
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Antigens, Neoplasm, Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung, Cells, Cultured, Cross Reactions, Humans, Lung Neoplasms, Protein Binding, T-Lymphocytes, HLA-A2 Antigen, Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta, Antigen Presentation, Epitope Mapping, Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte, T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity
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