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Updated: Nov 4, 2025
Paramyxoviruses for Tumor-targeted Immunomodulation: Design and Evaluation Ex Vivo
Published on: January 7, 2019
Identification and validation of viral antigens sharing sequence and structural homology with tumor-associated
Concetta Ragone1, Carmen Manolio1, Beatrice Cavalluzzo1
1Experimental Oncology - Innovative Immunological Models, Istituto Nazionale per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori, "Fondazione Pascale"- IRCCS, Naples, Italy.
Background:
The host's immune system develops in equilibrium with both cellular self-antigens and non-self-antigens derived from microorganisms which enter the body during lifetime. In addition, during the years, a tumor may arise presenting to the immune system an additional pool of non-self-antigens, namely tumor antigens (tumor-associated antigens, TAAs; tumor-specific antigens, TSAs).
Methods:
In the present study, we looked for homology between published TAAs and non-self-viral-derived epitopes. Bioinformatics analyses and ex vivo immunological validations have been performed.
Results:
Surprisingly, several of such homologies have been found. Moreover, structural similarities between paired TAAs and viral peptides as well as comparable patterns of contact with HLA and T cell receptor (TCR) α and β chains have been observed. Therefore, the two classes of non-self-antigens (viral antigens and tumor antigens) may converge, eliciting cross-reacting CD8+ T cell responses which possibly drive the fate of cancer development and progression.
Conclusions:
An established antiviral T cell memory may turn out to be an anticancer T cell memory, able to control the growth of a cancer developed during the lifetime if the expressed TAA is similar to the viral epitope. This may ultimately represent a relevant selective advantage for patients with cancer and may lead to a novel preventive anticancer vaccine strategy.
