噬菌体肽库筛选抗人B7-H4中和抗体的模拟抗原表位及其免疫原性鉴定

目的:用噬菌体呈现随机12肽库筛选能与抗人B7-H4(h B7-H4)中和抗体特异性结合的模拟抗原表位肽,并用其免疫小鼠检测其免疫原性。方法:以抗h B7-H4中和抗体为靶分子,用体外生物淘洗法从噬菌体呈现随机12肽库中筛选与之结合的噬菌体克隆,用竞争性细胞ELISA鉴定阳性噬菌体克隆;化学合成候选多肽,并与钥孔血蓝蛋白或破伤风毒素偶联鉴定多肽的特异性;进一步用融合蛋白免疫小鼠检测其免疫原性和抗血清的补体依赖的细胞杀伤活性(CDC)。结果:经过3轮体外筛选后随机挑取50个阳性噬菌体克隆,其中20个克隆与抗h B7-H4抗体有较强的结合能力,DNA测序得到6组结构相似的肽序列;竞争性ELISA结果显示1号肽噬菌体能与细胞表面的h B7-H4竞争性地结合抗h B7-H4单抗;点杂交结果显示1号肽能特异性结合抗h B7-H4单抗;小鼠免疫实验结果显示1号肽融合蛋白能诱导高滴度的抗h B7-H4抗血清,并且抗血清具有补体依赖的细胞杀伤活性。结论:筛选得到能与抗h B7-H4中和抗体特异性结合的12肽模拟抗原表位序列并且具有免疫原性,为进一步开发h B7-H4相关的多肽疫苗提供了实验依据。     

抗GM-CSF纳米抗体的筛选与鉴定

目的:制备抗粒细胞-巨噬细胞集落刺激因子(GM-CSF)纳米抗体,并测定其亲和力。方法:分离提取GM-CSF免疫后羊驼外周血淋巴细胞总RNA,PCR扩增得到纳米抗体基因片段,与载体pHEN1重组后克隆至大肠杆菌TG1以构建初始文库,经拯救构建得到噬菌体展示纳米抗体文库,并对其进行生物淘选;通过大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)原核表达阳性纳米抗体克隆,并测定其亲和力。结果:构建了多样性良好且库容量为1.37×10~9cfu的纳米抗体初始文库,3轮淘选后共筛选得到5株氨基酸序列差异性较大的纳米抗体,并对其中一株纳米抗体G1进行表达纯化,SDS-PAGE分析表明纳米抗体G1纯度较高,且有较高的亲和力(K_D=2.95×10~(-8)mol/L)。结论:制备了高亲和力的抗GM-CSF纳米抗体,可应用于相关炎症抗体药物研制和疾病监测等方面。     

RNA干扰CD151基因表达抑制肝癌细胞侵袭

目的研究RNA干扰(RNA interference RNAi)抑制CD151表达对人类肝癌细胞迁移侵袭的影响及分子机制。方法将CD151-siRNA在脂质体介导下瞬时转入人肝癌HepG2细胞,倒置荧光显微镜观察转染效率,用qPCR,western blot检测HepG2细胞CD151mRNA和蛋白表达,体外研究肿瘤细胞迁移和侵袭能力,并检测相关信号通路的变化。结果成功转染CD151-siRNA后,HepG2细胞CD151基因的表达与正常对照组和阴性对照组相比,mRNA和蛋白表达水平明显降低(P0.05),细胞迁移和侵袭能力明显下降(P0.05),同时,沉默CD151的表达,FAK,ERK的磷酸化受抑制。结论CD151-siRNA能有效抑制人肝癌细胞CD151基因mRNA和蛋白的表达,通过抑制FAK,ERK蛋白的磷酸化水平,降低细胞的迁移和侵袭力。     

驼源天然单域重链抗体库的构建与鉴定

从未经主动免疫的健康羊驼(Lama pacos)外周血淋巴细胞中提取总RNA,反转录后作为第一轮PCR的模板。根据重链抗体保守区域设计引物,经巢式PCR法扩增获得了全套重链抗体可变区基因,将其克隆至噬菌粒pHEN1,电转化大肠杆菌TG1得到初级抗体库NAL,含有2×10⁷个独立克隆,菌落PCR和Hinf I酶切分析结果显示,克隆效率大于97%,文库的多样性良好。辅助噬菌体救援后,得到噬菌体展示文库命名为NA-PDL,滴度达10¹³CFU/ml。以真菌毒素人工抗原DON-MBSA为目标抗原,对NA-PDL进行了淘选,第二轮洗脱物中,阳性克隆率达36.4%,提示针对目标抗原的噬菌体颗粒得到了有效富集,文库NA-PDL多样性较好,为后续淘选针对特定抗原的单域重链抗体奠定了基础。     

下调窖蛋白-1表达抑制小鼠肝癌H22细胞侵袭能力

窖蛋白-1在不同肿瘤中发挥作用不同. 本研究以小鼠肝癌细胞H22为研究对象 ,观察下调窖蛋白-1表达对H22细胞侵袭能力的影响,并探讨其可能的分子机制. 利用RT－PCR和Western印迹法检测了窖蛋白-1在H22及小鼠正常肝细胞IAR20中的 表达.结果显示,窖蛋白 1在H22中的表达高于其在IAR20中的表达,提示窖蛋白 -1高表达可能与H22细胞恶性表型有关. RNA干扰和凝集素印记实验结果显示,窖 蛋白-1－siRNA能够有效抑制窖蛋白－1mRNA和蛋白表达,并抑制细胞表面N－聚糖 β1,6GlcNAc分支形成. Transwell细胞迁移和侵袭实验结果显示,与未转染组和 siRNA 对照组比较,转染窖蛋白-1 siRNA的H22细胞迁移和侵袭数目明显减少. 本研究证明,下调窖蛋白－1表达可抑制H22细胞表面N 聚糖β1,6GlcNAc分支形 成,从而抑制细胞迁移和侵袭能力.     

外泌体介导长链非编码RNA H19促进肝癌细胞增殖与转移

外泌体是由细胞分泌的直径为30～150 nm的小囊泡,含有丰富的mRNA、microRNA和长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)。目前,大多数外泌体研究都集中在mRNA和microRNA,而对lncRNA的生物学功能并不十分清楚。研究表明,肿瘤细胞外泌体 lncRNA H19在肿瘤细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭中发挥了重要作用。本研究将筛选到的lncRNA H19高表达的肝癌细胞HCCLM3,分别收集其高表达lncRNA H19的外泌体和其下调lncRNA H19表达后的外泌体。然后,将收集到的外泌体分别添加到lncRNA H19低表达的肝癌细胞Hep3B和HepG2孵育液中。孵育24 h后,检测其对肿瘤细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力的影响。结果显示,肝癌细胞HCCLM3可分泌大量的外泌体,且能被其他肿瘤细胞大量摄取;与下调lncRNA H19表达的外泌体相比,lncRNA H19高表达的外泌体能显著增强Hep3B和HepG2细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力。而这一作用可通过激活PI3K/AKT/mTOR通路实现。上述结果表明,lncRNA H19高表达的肝癌细胞以外泌体方式,增强邻近肝癌细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力,促进肝癌的发生与发展。     

外泌体介导的长链非编码RNA H19促进肝癌细胞的增殖与转移

外泌体是由细胞分泌的直径为30～150 nm的小囊泡,含有丰富的mRNA、microRNA和长链非编码RNA(lncRNA)。目前,大多数外泌体研究都集中在mRNA和microRNA,而对lncRNA的生物学功能并不十分清楚。研究表明,肿瘤细胞外泌体lncRNA H19在肿瘤细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭中发挥了重要作用。本研究将筛选到的lncRNA H19高表达的肝癌细胞HCCLM3,分别收集其高表达lncRNA H19的外泌体和其下调lncRNA H19表达后的外泌体。然后,将收集到的外泌体分别添加到lncRNA H19低表达的肝癌细胞Hep3B和HepG2孵育液中。孵育24 h后,检测其对肿瘤细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力的影响。结果显示,肝癌细胞HCCLM3可分泌大量的外泌体,且能被其他肿瘤细胞大量摄取;与下调lncRNA H19表达的外泌体相比,lncRNA H19高表达的外泌体能显著增强Hep3B和HepG2细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力。而这一作用可通过激活PI3K/AKT/mTOR通路实现。上述结果表明,lncRNA H19高表达的肝癌细胞以外泌体方式,增强邻近肝癌细胞的增殖、迁移和侵袭能力,促进肝癌的发生与发展。     

微小RNA-30e调控EMT对胃癌侵袭和迁移影响的研究

目的:探讨微小RNA-30e(miR-30e)对胃癌细胞迁移和侵袭能力的影响及可能的作用机制。方法:利用Transwell实验和细胞划痕实验检测胃癌细胞系BGC823侵袭和迁移的能力;以脂质体包裹合成miR-30e转染至BGC823细胞,并设空白载体作为对照组;Real-time PCR分别检测实验组和对照组细胞中miR-30e的表达。RT-PCR检测过表达miR-30e后对上皮细胞间充质转化(EMT)相关标记分子Snail、Vimentin、N-cadherin和E-cadherin表达的影响。结果:miR-30e转染至胃癌细胞后,抑制EMT通路主要因子Snail,Vimentin和N-cadherin m RNA和蛋白质表达,而增加E-cadherin的mRNA和蛋白质表达;miR-30e通过TGF-β对BGC823细胞的侵袭和迁移能力有明显的抑制作用。结论:miR-30e可能是肿瘤细胞EMT过程的关键靶标靶点,阻断EMT过程,可以抑制胃癌细胞的侵袭和迁移能力。     

小鼠B7-H4基因的真核表达及其对淋巴细胞增殖的影响

目的构建小鼠B7-H4胞外段的真核表达载体,观察其在体外对淋巴细胞增殖的影响,为深入研究B7-H4在T细胞活化及移植排斥反应中的作用提供实验材料。方法提取小鼠肺、脾脏总RNA,RT-PCR反转录cDNA,以此为模板,扩增B7-H4胞外段基因,将其导入pGEM-T Easy载体,构建TA-mB7-H4质粒。用XBaI和HindIII双酶切后琼脂糖凝胶电泳分析和测序鉴定。将测序证实的mB7-H4酶切后装入MYC-HIS-EGFP-N荧光表达载体中,构建B7-H4-EGFP真核表达载体,转化JM109感受态细菌,提取重组质粒,酶切后琼脂糖凝胶电泳分析和测序鉴定。同时构建control-EGFP载体。应用脂质体法将重组质粒转染CHO细胞,经G418筛选,获得稳定表达B7-H4-EGFP的CHO细胞株,用MTT分析其分别对BALB/c小鼠、C57小鼠淋巴细胞和二者混合淋巴细胞增殖的影响。结果经测序证实,所克隆的小鼠B7-H4 cDNA和构建的重组质粒基因序列正确;转染的CHO细胞能稳定地表达跨膜型重组蛋白B7-H4;表达的B7-H4对淋巴细胞增殖具有明显抑制作用。结论成功构建了B7-H4真核表达系统,能表达有生物学活性的B7-H4分子,为进一步探讨B7-H4在T细胞活化和移植排斥反应中的作用奠定了基础。     

miRNA-320a通过靶向水通道蛋白4抑制神经胶质瘤细胞U251迁移侵袭的分析

本研究初步探讨过表达miRNA-320a对抑制神经胶质瘤U251细胞迁移、侵袭的可能的机制。实验开始前我们利用生物信息学软件进行分析对比miRNA-320a与水通道蛋白4(AQP4)之间的靶点结合关系,然后我们用miRNA-320a mimic及Ncontrol对U251细胞株进行转染,48 h后进行下一步实验。首先用q-PCR验证过表达转染情况,以及水通道蛋白4(AQP4)m RNA的表达水平,其次用划痕和Transwell检测转染后细胞株的迁移侵袭能力,最后用Western blotting测定AQP4的表达水平。生物信息分析可得miRNA-320a在AQP4 m RNA 3'UTR区域能稳定结合,实验结果显示转染mimic后,过表达组明显升高,且过表达组AQP4 m RNA的表达明显被抑制,划痕和Transwell实验提示了过表达miRNA-320a后能抑制U251细胞株的迁移侵袭能力(p0.01)。Western blotting结果显示,过表达miRNA-320a与对照组相比能明显抑制AQP4蛋白的表达。所有研究结果提示miRNA-320a能靶向作用AQP4 m RNA 3'UTR区域,并抑制其蛋白表达,从而抑制了肿瘤细胞U251的迁移侵袭能力,为临床治疗恶性胶质瘤提供新的参考。     

B7-H4 enhances oncogenicity and inhibits apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells

B7-H4 is expressed in a variety of tumor cells and functions as a negative regulator of T cells. However, clarification is needed as to whether B7-H4 mediates tumorigenesis through mechanisms, such as apoptosis, in addition to mediating tumor immune escape. We investigate the mechanisms involved in enhanced oncogenicity and the inhibition of apoptosis by B7-H4 in pancreatic cancer cells. Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) specific for B7-H4 were evaluated for their ability to knockdown B7-H4 mRNA and protein expression in pancreatic cancer cells and the most effective siRNA was selected for investigating the effect of B7-H4 gene silencing in a number of functional assays. The inhibition of B7-H4 increased cell-cell adhesion and decreased the formation of pseudopodia. It also increased the expression of E-cadherin and decreased the expression of vimentin and CD44. B7-H4 siRNA inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation and migration of pancreatic cancer cells. Moreover, increased apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells following B7-H4 silencing was demonstrated in vitro by using flow cytometry and in a xenograft tumor model and was associated with increased caspase activity and decreased Erk1/2 phosphorylation both in vitro and in vivo. Loss of B7-H4 function thus prevents tumor growth through many processes, including the induction of apoptosis and inhibition of the Erk1/2 signaling pathway indicating that B7-H4 is a cancer promoter and a potentially important therapeutic target. B7-H4 inhibition might offer an exciting opportunity to inhibit the progression of human pancreatic cancers.     

The immunomodulatory protein B7-H4 is overexpressed in breast and ovarian cancers and promotes epithelial cell transformation

B7-H4 protein is expressed on the surface of a variety of immune cells and functions as a negative regulator of T cell responses. We independently identified B7-H4 (DD-O110) through a genomic effort to discover genes upregulated in tumors and here we describe a new functional role for B7-H4 protein in cancer. We show that B7-H4 mRNA and protein are overexpressed in human serous ovarian cancers and breast cancers with relatively little or no expression in normal tissues. B7-H4 protein is extensively glycosylated and displayed on the surface of tumor cells and we provide the first demonstration of a direct role for B7-H4 in promoting malignant transformation of epithelial cells. Overexpression of B7-H4 in a human ovarian cancer cell line with little endogenous B7-H4 expression increased tumor formation in SCID mice. Whereas overexpression of B7-H4 protected epithelial cells from anoikis, siRNA-mediated knockdown of B7-H4 mRNA and protein expression in a breast cancer cell line increased caspase activity and apoptosis. The restricted normal tissue distribution of B7-H4, its overexpression in a majority of breast and ovarian cancers and functional activity in transformation validate this cell surface protein as a new target for therapeutic intervention. A therapeutic antibody strategy aimed at B7-H4 could offer an exciting opportunity to inhibit the growth and progression of human ovarian and breast cancers.     

B7-H1 Expression Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Colorectal Carcinoma and Regulates the Proliferation and Invasion of HCT116 Colorectal Cancer Cells

Background And Objective

The investigation concerning the B7-H1 expression in colorectal cancer cells is at an early stage. It is unclear whether B7-H1 expression may have diagnostic or prognostic value in colorectal carcinoma. Additionally, how B7-H1 is associated with the clinical features of colorectal carcinoma is not known. In order to investigate the relationship between B7-H1 and colorectal cancer, we analyzed B7-H1 expression and its effect in clinical specimens and HCT116 cells.

Methods

Paraffin-embedded specimens from 143 eligible patients were used to investigate the expression of CD274 by immunohistochemistry. We also examined whether B7-H1 itself may be related to cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion in colon cancer HCT116 cells.

Results

Our results show that B7-H1 was highly expressed in colorectal carcinoma and was significantly associated with cell differentiation status and TNM (Tumor Node Metastasis) stage. Patients with positive B7-H1 expression showed a trend of shorter survival time. Using multivariate analysis, we demonstrate that positive B7-H1 expression is an independent predictor of colorectal carcinoma prognosis. Our results indicate that B7-H1 silencing with siRNA inhibits cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, cell apoptosis was also increased by B7-H1 inhibition.

Conclusions

Positive B7-H1 expression is an independent predictor for colorectal carcinoma prognosis. Moreover, knockdown of B7-H1 can inhibit cell proliferation, migration and invasion.     

B7-H4-mediated immunoresistance is supressed by PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors

B7-H4 plays an important role in tumor immune evasion. In previous studies we have found that B7-H4 can translocate to the nucleus, and the exposure to PI3K inhibitor Ly294002 affects B7-H4 subcellular distribution. In this study we report the role of PI3K/Akt pathway in the B7-H4 subcellular distribution and the effect of PI3K/Akt inhibitors on B7-H4-mediated immunoresistance. The involvement of PI3K/Akt pathway in B7-H4 subcellular distribution was evident in experiments with wortmannin, while MDM2 inhibitor nutlin-3 and the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin were used to dissect the signaling downstream of Akt. Wortmannin and rapamycin demonstrated similar effects on B7-H4 subcellular distribution. Exposure to any of these inhibitors decreased levels of membrane B7-H4 while at the same time inducing its nuclear accumulation, while exposure to nutlin-3 had no effect on B7-H4 subcellular distribution. In the T cell proliferation assay, both wortmannin and rapamycin effectively inhibited B7-H4 WT/293 cells-mediated T cell proliferation while exerting no effect on Mock/293 cells. PI3K/Akt/mTOR plays a role in B7-H4 subcellular distribution, while MDM2 does not take part in it. Moreover, we show that wortmannin and rapamycin inhibit B7-H4-mediated tumor immunoresistance through regulating B7-H4 subcellular distribution. Taken together, these results suggest that PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitors might be used for adjuvant therapy aimed at inhibition of immune evasion.     

Tumor expression of B7-H4 predicts poor survival of patients suffering from gastric cancer

To establish the prognostic value of B7-H4 expression by tumor cells in gastric cancer patients, we evaluated the association of B7-H4 expression with clinicopathologic factors and overall survival of gastric cancer patients. A retrospective cohort study including 156 gastric cancer patients was performed in the present report. Immunohistochemical assay was used to evaluate the expression of B7-H4 in the surgical specimens of gastric cancer tissues. Multi-univariate COX model was then used to evaluate the association of B7-H4 expression with the patients’ survival and clinicopathological parameters. B7-H4 expression in the gastric cancer cells was observed in about 44.9% gastric cancer specimens. Univariate analysis demonstrated that there was no correlation between B7-H4 expression and sex, age, histological type, pathological grade or tumor size. In contrast, B7-H4 expression correlated positively with cancer invasiveness and lymph node metastasis. In addition, the median overall survival time of patients with lower B7-H4 expression was 13 months longer than that of patients with higher expression (χ² = 12.38, P < 0.0001), and the median disease-free survival time of patients with lower B7-H4 expression was significantly longer than that of patients with higher expression (33 vs. 16 months, χ² = 14.977, P < 0.0001). After adjustment for other confounding factors, the COX model analysis indicated that the death risk was significantly higher in patients with higher B7-H4 expression than those with lower expression (RR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.15–2.96). The present study demonstrated that higher B7-H4 expression in cancer cells was associated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients. This is consistent with the idea that B7-H4 promotes cancer progression, likely via inhibition of anti-tumor immune responses.     

Generation of avian-derived anti-B7-H4 antibodies exerts a blockade effect on the immunosuppressive response

For highly conserved mammalian protein, chicken is a suitable immune host to generate antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies have been successfully targeted with immunity checkpoint proteins as a means of cancer treatment; this treatment enhances tumor-specific immunity responses through immunoregulation. Studies have identified the importance of B7-H4 in immunoregulation and its use as a potential target for cancer treatment. High levels of B7-H4 expression are found in tumor tissues and are associated with adverse clinical and pathological characteristics. Using the phage display technique, this study isolated specific single-chain antibody fragments (scFvs) against B7-H4 from chickens. Our experiment proved that B7-H4 clearly induced the inhibition of T-cell activation. Therefore, use of anti-B7-H4 scFvs can effectively block the exhaustion of immunity cells and also stimulate and activate T-cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Sequence analysis revealed that two isolated scFv S2 and S4 have the same VH complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) sequence. Molecule docking was employed to simulate the complex structures of scFv with B7-H4 to analyze the interaction. Our findings revealed that both scFvs employed CDR-H1 and CDR-H3 as main driving forces and had strong binding effects with the B7-H4. The affinity of scFv S2 was better because the CDR-L2 loop of the scFv S2 had three more hydrogen bond interactions with B7-H4. The results of this experiment suggest the usefulness of B7-H4 as a target for immunity checkpoints; the isolated B7-H4-specific chicken antibodies have the potential for use in future cancer immunotherapy applications.     

B7-H4 expression associates with cancer progression and predicts patient’s survival in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

A retrospective cohort study including 112 patients suffering from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) was performed to investigate the expression of B7-H4 in ESCC and determine its association with patient’s clinicopathological parameters and survival. Expression levels of B7-H4 on tumor cells and densities of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in the surgical specimens of ESCC tissues were characterized using immunohistochemical assays. Uni- and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate the prognostic value of B7-H4 expression levels and densities of TILs in tumor sections. Positive B7-H4 immunostaining was observed in 107 of 112 (95.5%) of ESCC tissue sections. We further divided all patients into two major subgroups, a lower B7-H4 expression group with 46 patients and a higher B7-H4 expression group with 66 patients. We found that expression levels of B7-H4 on tumor cells were significantly correlated with patient’s gender (P = 0.0288), distant metastasis (P = 0.0500), and TNM stage (P = 0.0258). Moreover, tumor cell B7-H4 expression was inversely correlated with densities of CD3⁺ T cells in tumor nest (P = 0.0424) and CD8⁺ T cells in tumor stroma (P = 0.0229). The overall survival rate of the patients with higher B7-H4 expression was significantly worse than that of the patients with lower B7-H4 expression (P = 0.0105, Hazard Ratio: 1.854, 95%CI:1.152–2.902). Markers of cell-mediated immune responses such as CD3, CD8, and T-bet were associated with better patient survival. The present study demonstrated that B7-H4 expression in human ESCC is associated with cancer progression, reduced tumor immunosurveillance and worse patient outcomes. B7-H4 can serve as a novel prognostic predictor for human ESCC and a potential target for the immune therapy against this malignancy.