Cancer Immunology Flashcards
what are the 7 key features of all cancer cells?
- they stimulate their own growth
- they ignore growth inhibiting signals (tumor suppressing)
- they avoid death by apoptosis
- they develop a blood supply (angiogenesis)
- they leave the site of origin to invade (not completely necessary)
- they replicate constantly to expand their numbers
- they evade and outrun the immune response
how does our body mount a response to cancer?
immune cells must recognize cancer cells as different from normal cells (hard bc they are our cells, but with mutations)
what dictates the outcome of host-tumor interactions?
the type of tumor Ag presented to T cells
what are the 2 types of tumor Ag?
- tumor specific Antigens (TSA)
2. tumor associated antigens (TAA)
how is TSA made?
mutation in tumor cell generates a new peptide that is recognized as foreign
why do tumors expressing TSA have better prognosis?
they have strong immunogenicity because they are unique Ag (altered self peptides)
what tumors are TSA commonly found?
- chemical and physical carcinogens
2. oncoviruses
what are the oncoviruses?
EBV HTLV-1 HPV HBV HCV BK/JC HHV-8
prognosis of tumors that express TSA
better prognosis, the tumors are eliminated by the body and spontaneously regress
how is TAA made
gene alteration results in overexpression of a self protein - are not mutants
what is needed to destroy TAA?
a self reactive T cell …provoke autoimmunity
what tumor Ag is found in the majority of tumors?
tumor associated antigen
prognosis of tumors that express TAA
not as good as TSA, more difficult for tumor immunity to eliminate
what self Ag are overexpressed in tumor cells?
- growth factors
- growth factor receptors
- oncogene coded proteins
- differentiation proteins
what is an example of a GF receptor that is a cancer?
Hu epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)
what is an example of a differentiation protein that is a cancer?
in melanoma, tyrosinase, gp100, melan-A and MART-1
what TAA are recognized as nonself?
overexpressed developmental Ags - oncofetal Ag
what are oncofetal Ag
Ag of embryonic development BEFORE immune system maturation
what is an example of an oncofetal Ag?
- Alpha fetoprotein (AFP)
- carcinoembryonic Ag (CEA)
- melanoma Ags (MAGE1-3, BAGE, GAGE1/2)
what oncofetal Ag is elevated in most liver cancer pt?
AFP (alpha fetoprotein)
what oncofetal Ag is elevated in 90% of colorectal cancer pt?
CEA (carcinoembryonic Ag)
why do TAA have poor prognosis?
they are nonimmunogenic or have weak immunogenicity
how are TAA useful?
diagnostic or prognostic markers
what is a good marker of tumor progression?
CEA – increase in serum CEA indicates tumor growth post CRC removal
what do serum concentrations of TAA correlate with?
- tumor size
- lesion differentiation
- response to therapy
how do tumors aid their growth?
they activate endothelia
how does tumor angiogenesis occur?
- tumor forms
- tumors that are oxygen and nutrient deficient release VEGF. pericytes that stabilized the vessel detach and the blood vessel expands
- activated endothelial cells produce proteases to degrade basement membrane and ECM
- endothelial cells begin to migrate toward the gradient of GF from the tumor
- endothelial cells proliferate and form new vascular structures
- ECM proteins are deposited as new blood vessel is stabilized by pericytes to form functional and mature blood vessel
how do immune cells have access to the tumor?
when tumor activates endothelia, they permit innate cell infiltration
how to macrophages respond to cancer?
phagocytize and present tumor Ags and kill tumor cells by ROS, NO, lysosomal enzymes and TNFalpha
how can Ig respond to cancer?
anti-Cancer Ig can bind to tumor Ags on the cancer cells to trigger ADCC – then NK come and kill
(little evidence to indicate Ig can control or eliminate)
how do DC respond to cancer?
capture tumor Ag that is released by tumor or macrophage and present to CD4 and CD8
how do CD4 cells respond to cancer?
must differentiate into IFNgamma producing Th1 cells to activate macrophages and upregulate MHC I on tumor cells
how does Th1 help against tumor?
the IL-2 produced by the Th cells drives expansion of anti-cancer CD8 T cells
how do NK cells respond to cancer
- activated by IL-2 or IL-12 (DC or macrophage) and express activation receptors to bind to tumor cells for release of perforin and granzyme
- use FcR to bind to Ig (ADCC)
- produce IFNgamma to activate macrophages
how do CD8 T cells respond to cancer
differentiate into CTL which are effective at eliminating cancer cells by release of perforin, granzyme, and Fas-FasL
?how do NK cells usually provide immunosurveillance
expression of MHC I on normal host cells prevents NK lysis so the inhibitory signal overrides the stimulatory signal of NK
how does MHC I transformation affect target/host cells?
transformation leads to loss of MHC I which means there is no inhibitory receptor engagement with NK, and NK lyses the cell
what cytokine activates NK cells
IL-2
IL-12
IL-15
what do NK cells express once they are activated?
activation receptors NKG2D