Whole Transcriptome Analysis for Minor H Antigen Discovery

Purpose: In HLA-matched allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT), donor T cells recognizing minor histocompatibility antigens (MiHAs) can mediate desired antitumor immunity as well as undesired side effects. MiHAs with hematopoiesis-restricted expression are relevant targets to augment antitumor immunity after alloSCT without side effects. To identify therapeutic MiHAs, we analyzed the in vivo immune response in a patient with strong antitumor immunity after alloSCT.

Experimental Design: T-cell clones recognizing patient, but not donor, hematopoietic cells were selected for MiHA discovery by whole genome association scanning. RNA-sequence data from the GEUVADIS project were analyzed to investigate alternative transcripts, and expression patterns were determined by microarray analysis and qPCR. T-cell reactivity was measured by cytokine release and cytotoxicity.

Results: T-cell clones were isolated for two HLA-B*15:01–restricted MiHA. LB-GLE1-1V is encoded by a nonsynonymous SNP in exon 6 of GLE1. For the other MiHAs, an associating SNP in intron 3 of ITGB2 was found, but no SNP disparity was present in the normal gene transcript between patient and donor. RNA-sequence analysis identified an alternative ITGB2 transcript containing part of intron 3. qPCR demonstrated that this transcript is restricted to hematopoietic cells and SNP-positive individuals. In silico translation revealed LB-ITGB2-1 as HLA-B*15:01–binding peptide, which was validated as hematopoietic MiHA by T-cell experiments.

Conclusions: Whole genome and transcriptome analysis identified LB-ITGB2-1 as MiHAs encoded by an alternative transcript. Our data support the therapeutic relevance of LB-ITGB2-1 and illustrate the value of RNA-sequence analysis for discovery of immune targets encoded by alternative transcripts. Clin Cancer Res; 22(16); 4185–96. ©2016 AACR.

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