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Mass spectrometric analysis identified the peptide recognized by a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) specific for the chemically induced BALB/c Meth A sarcoma as derived from a 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 12 (Hsd17b12) pseudogene present in the BALB/c genome, but only expressed in Meth A sarcoma. The sequence of the peptide is TYDKIKTGL and corresponds to Hsd17b12(114-122) with threonine instead of isoleucine at codon 114 and is designated Hsd17b12(114T). Immunization of mice with an Hsd17b12(114T) peptide-pulsed dendritic cell-based vaccine or a non-viral plasmid construct expressing the Hsd17b12(114T) peptide protected the mice from lethal Meth A tumor challenge in tumor rejection assays. A Hsd17b12(114-122) peptide-pulsed vaccine was ineffective in inducing resistance in mice to Meth A sarcoma. These results confirm the immunogenicity of the identified tumor peptide, as well as demonstrate the efficacies of these vaccine vehicles. These findings suggest that the role of the human homolog of Hsd17b12, HSD17B12, as a potential human tumor antigen be explored.

We have solubilized by limited papain digestion and partially purified the tumor rejection antigen, tumor-specific transplantation antigens (TSTA), from membranes of a simian virus 40-induced sarcoma. Uniform-sized materials with a molecular weight range of 50,000 have retained their tumor rejection activities through the purification procedures. The simian virus 40 TSTA have been separated from H-2 activity by affinity chromatography on concanavalin A columns and no evidence was found for H-2 antigens in the unbound fraction (I) of concanavalin A containing TSTA activity. A reduced yield from the crude soluble fraction was observed with Fraction I of concanavalin A material and this may indeed represent fragmentation of antigen during papain digestion. These results stand in contrast to purification of histocompatibility antigens (H-2alpha) using the same methods and techniques. Low concentrations of simian virus 40 TSTA crude soluble materials were nervertheless biologically active. A concentration as low as 4 mug protein provided 50% tumor rejection and 0.1 mug protein provided lymphocyte stimulation. Both assays reflected specificity of response.

The cell-mediated immune status of B10.D2 (H-2d) mice immunized with spleen cells from a congenic strain, B10.A (H-2a), differing at the H-2 locus and of BALB/c mice immunized with a syngeneic simian virus 40 (SV40)-induced sarcoma (mKSA-TU5) was evaluated by an agarose microassay for migration inhibition factor. The inducing antigens in this experiment were papain-solubilized and partially purified chromatographic preparations of spleen cells from A/J mice (H-2a) and a papain-solubilized antigen extract prepared from a tissue culture-adapted cell line (TU-5), derived from the SV40-induced mKSA tumor. The assay used microliters of normal or immune peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) resuspended in a 2-mul droplet of agarose and cultured in the presence or absence of antigen. Specific migration inhibition of PEC from immunized mice was observed with concentrations of solubilized antigen preparations as low as 2.0 mug/ml (3.67 mug/chamber).

A methylcholanthrene-induced tumor of BALB/c (H-2d) origin had been shown to express H-2 antigens normally associated with the H-2k haplotype. The molecules expressing the alien antigens have been partially purified and shown to be distinct from molecules expressing normal H-2d antigens. Like normal H-2 antigens, the alien antigens have a molecular weight of 48,000, are glycoproteins, and are noncovalently bound to beta 2-microglobulin. The alien antigens differ from normal H-2 antigens in their susceptibility to papain digestion, behavior during gel filtration, and overall stability. Possible mechanisms accounting for the expression of the alien antigen are discussed.

Papain-solubilized HL-A antigens have been shown to contain two polypeptide fragments: beta2-micro-globulin with a molecular weight of approximately 12,000 and a larger fragment with a molecular weight of about 34,000. The large fragments isolated from two HL-A preparations carrying different specificities appeared homogeneous both by immunoelectrophoresis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide electrophoresis. Both HL-A antigen preparations contained the same NH2-terminal (glycine) and the same COOH-terminal residue (serine). The carbohydrate content of the large fragment was 12.9%, making the carbohydrate-free molecular weight approximately 30,000. Small but significant differences have been found in the amino acid compositions and tryptic peptide maps of the two large fragments containing different specificities.

Quantitative studies have been performed on the immunogenicity of a membrane-bound antigen of a simian virus 40 (SV40) -induced sarcoma in syngeneic BALB/c mice and of subcellular fractions derived from this tumor. The objectives of the investigation were: a) to develop a quantitative in vivo assay of the tumor-specific transplantation antigen (TSTA) and b) to compare the distribution of histocompatibility antigens, H-2, with that of the SV40 TSTA during several fractionation steps. The immunogenicity of the TSTA-containing fractions was assessed from dose-response curves relating tumor size and the amount of protein used for immunization. After digestion of the tumor cell membranes with a limited amount of papain, H-2 as well as TSTA were present in a soluble form. A single immunization with only 2 microng of the solubilized TSTA reduced the tumor size by 70% compared to that in nonimmunized control animals. The results of several fractionation steps suggest that H-2 and the TSTA are not tightly associated in the solubilized immunogenic material.

A detergent-solubilized form of H-2b (dH-2b) has been purified 1500-fold from RBL-5 tumor cells. The purification was accomplished by deoxycholate solubilization of purified plasma membranes, gel filtration, Lens culinaris lectin affinity chromatography, and affinity chromatography on a sheep anti-dH-2b immunoadsorbent. Both alloantigen and beta 2-microglobulin were monitored by radioimmunoassay during purification. The final product was judged to be greater than 90% pure by the following criteria: 1) sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis which showed the expected 2-component structure of histocompatibility antigens, i.e. a heavy chain and beta 2-microglobulin; 2) amino acid composition which was comparable to the known compositions of other H-2 and HLA molecules; 3) NH2-terminal sequencing which gave a unique sequence for the heavy chain, and the reported sequence for beta 2-microglobulin; and 4) immunoprecipitation of the bulk of the preparation by appropriate alloantisera.

A large scale purification of histocompatibility-2 (H-2) antigens from mouse liver is described. The antigens were solubilized by a limited papain digestion of a crude preparation of liver membranes (strain A/J) and purified by ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration, affinity chromatography, and isoelectric focusing. The overall degree of purification of H-2Kk was 1,300-fold and that of H-2Dd was 1,500-fold; approximately 8 mg of purified H-2a antigens were obtained from 1 kg of liver. The purification was followed by a sensitive radioimmunoassay in which H-2a-containing fractions were used to inhibit the binding of 125I-labeled H-2a to appropriate antisera. H-2Dd and H-2Kk co-purified through all the steps but the concentration of H-2Kk was 2- to 3-fold higher than that of H-2Dd in the liver homogenate as well as in the purified H-2 preparation. beta 2-microglobulin was initially present in a 3- to 10-fold excess over H-2 in the liver homogenate, but the purified H-2 preparation contained approximately 2 mol of alloantigenic heavy chain/mol of beta 2-microglobulin. Isoelectric focusing and disc-gel electrophoresis showed a charge heterogeneity of H-2, with a mean isoelectric point of pH 4.9. Electrophoresis on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels showed one band. Denaturing conditions were required to remove beta 2-microglobulin and small amounts of impurities from H-2. The amino acid sequence of the first 27 residues of the isolated heavy chains was determined.

We have attempted to generate in vitro lymphocytes cytotoxic to a widely studied model of ovarian cancer in C3HeB/FeJ mice. These attempts were unsuccessful with either syngeneic or allogeneic spleen cells. The following experimental results demonstrated that this murine ovarian tumor lacks histocompatibility antigens. (a) Tumor cells were not lysed by allogeneic lymphocytes presensitized to H-2k spleen cells. (b) Tumor cells did not specifically inhibit the cell-mediated lysis of H-2k spleen cells by presensitized allogeneic lymphocytes. (c) Histoincompatible (H-2b or H-2d) and syngeneic (H-2k) mice all died with identical tumor growth patterns within 25, 30, or 35 days following the i.p. inoculation of 10(6), 10(5), or 10(4) tumor cells, respectively. (d) Tumor cells were not lysed by an anti-H-2k antiserum and complement. (e) Absorption of the anti-H-2k antiserum with tumor cells did not decrease the cytotoxicity of the antiserum. (f) Competitive inhibition of a radioimmunoassay and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of immunoprecipitate of radiolabeled tumor extracts failed to demonstrate an H-2 heavy chain, although a normal amount of beta-microglobulin was present. This lack of histocompatibility antigens may explain the failure to generate lymphocytes cytotoxic to this tumor. Thus, this murine ovarian tumor, which has a serologically detectable tumor-associated antigen and can be cured by nonspecific immunotherapy, may provide an excellent model for the study of successful immunotherapy in the absence of histocompatibility antigens and associated cell-mediated reactions.

The serologically defined tumor-specific surface antigen (TSSA) of the chemically-induced BALB/c Meth A sarcoma, highly restricted to one of 20 sarcomas of BALB/c origin, has been detected on a Moloney murine sarcoma virus (Mo-MuSV)-transformed BALB/c 3T3 cell lines, designated IIA(v). The immunogenicity of the IIA(v) cell in tumor-rejection assays was specific for the Meth A sarcoma, supporting the evidence for a close relationship between the TSSA and the tumor-associated transplantation antigen (TATA) of this tumor. Infection of SC-I cells with retroviruses present in cultured filtrates of IIA(v) cells resulted in Meth A antigen expression. The retroviruses associated with Meth A antigen expression have been tentatively identified as replication and/or transformation-defective XC- MuLV. The possible roles of Mo-MuSV and cellular genes of the BALB/c strain of mice in the expression of the Meth A antigen are discussed.

Polymorphic major histocompatibility class I antigens have highly conserved disulfide bridges in the second and third external domains. To study the role of a disulfide bridge, we have introduced a mutation into the mouse H-2Ld gene by oligonucleotide-directed site-specific mutagenesis, disrupting the disulfide bridge in the second domain of the protein by changing cysteine at amino acid position 101 into serine. Upon introduction of the mutant gene into L cells, the mutant transplantation antigens were synthesized, inserted into the membrane, and displayed on the cell surface, indicating that the disulfide bridge is not essential for surface expression of the H-2 antigen. Binding studies carried out with 16 monoclonal antibodies specific for the H-2Ld antigen showed that most of the allodeterminants are lost or greatly altered in the mutant antigen. Further, almost complete loss of the recognition by H-2Ld-specific alloreactive cytotoxic T cells was observed. These results indicate that polymorphic determinants are dependent on a protein folding pattern dictated by the disulfide bridge. However, two antibodies previously found to react with antigenic sites present in the first and third domains were reactive with the mutant, implying an element of domain independence with respect to the determinants recognized by these antibodies.

H-2Kk and H-2Dd molecules were specificially purified from a radioiodinated H-2a preparation obtained by papain digestion of spleen cell membranes of A/J strain mice. The molecules were isolated by binding to H-2 alloantisera of the corresponding private specificity followed by precipitation with rabbit anti-mouse IgG antiserum. The specifically precipitated radioiodinated H-2Kk and H-2Dd molecules were dissociated by acid treatment into large and small components of about 37,000 and 11,000 respectively. These were separated by gel filtration at acid pH or by gel isoelectric focusing in the presence of 6 M urea. Each component separated by gel filtration of the acid-dissociated H-2 molecules showed a high degree of size homogeneity as determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Upon gel isoelectric focusing, however, the small components showed two peaks of radioactivity closely located together at pH 7-8, both of which had a restricted pH range, while the large components gave one peak of a relatively wide pH range of pH 5-6. The H-2Kk and H-2Dd molecules gave essentially the same pattern in terms of the numbers and the positions of the radioactivity bands. Under the iodination conditions used the large components of H-2Kk molecules contained more radioactivity than the small components, while the reverse was true in case of H-2Dd molecules. Such a difference was also found with H-2Kk and H-2Dd molecules isolated by use of alloantisera of the respective public specificity. The assay of binding of the isolated components with H-2 alloantisera of defined specificity revealed that the large components retain most of the allospecificities of the parental H-2 molecules. No H-2 allospecificities were found on the small components. The small components showed extensive binding with rabbit antiserum against mouse beta2-microglobulin. The same antiserum did not show any binding with the large components. On the other hand, both of the components did bind with rabbit antiserum against papain-solubilized H-2 molecules.

A membrane antigen from RBL-5 leukemic cells that was solubilized and partially purified is further characterized in this study. This soluble antigen is capable of immunizating syngeneic hosts to reject neoplastic cells and thus resembles TSTA. It also induces cytotoxic antibody in syngeneic hosts capable of specifically lysing RBL-5 cells in vitro. RBL-5, however, releases infectious virus (RLV); it was necessary therefore to rule out virus or structural virion antigens as the effective immunogen. Infectious virus was not detectable in our initial crude membrane (CM) material, nor in the papain-solubilized CS or the G-150 Sephadex-chromatographed fraction. Virus-neutralizing antibody was not detected, under stringent assay conditions, in the syngeneic anti-CM sera. Antigen preparations CM, CS and the chromatographeal fractions F1, F2 and F3 were assayed in a complement-fixation test against brood-reacting antisera capable of detecting virus envelope antigen and gs antigen and against syngeneic antisera. Although our antigen preparations were positive for virion antigens, CS and F2 contained an antigen that reacted only with syngeneic antiserum. These same fractions were those reactive as immunogens. On the basis of these data, it is postulated that a cellular membrane component, other than viral, functions as TSTA.

Primary mouse cells transformed by adenovirus type 12 (Ad12) expressed negligible amounts of class I antigens H-2K, -D, and -L on the cell surface and were capable of forming tumors in syngeneic animals, whereas cells transformed by Ad5 continued to express class I antigens and were nontumorigenic. Cells from a tumor, generated by injection of Ad12-transformed mouse cells into a syngeneic mouse, also expressed low levels of H-2 antigens, indicating that this phenotype is maintained in vivo. In all Ad12-transformed cells, synthesis of the H-2 heavy chain was not detected whereas the beta 2-microglobulin light chain was synthesized. Furthermore, the level of cytoplasmic H-2 mRNA in the Ad12 lines was greatly reduced. Reduction of H-2 expression is instructed solely by the transforming region of the viral genome, since this repression occurred in cells transformed by a DNA fragment containing only Ad12 E1A and E1B genes. Addition of recombinant murine interferon gamma strongly stimulated expression of class I antigens in the Ad12 transformants as well as in cells from the Ad12 tumor. This result indicates that Ad12 does not preferentially transform cells that are deficient for class I genes and that Ad12 does not mutate the class I genes in cells it transforms. The correlation between tumorigenicity and loss of H-2 expression in Ad12-transformed cells is discussed.

Tumor-specific transplantation antigen (TSTA) was solubilized from cell membranes of sarcoma Meth-A with non-ionic detergent Nonidet P40. Soluble TSTA was partially characterized by chromatographic separation and electrophoresis. The antigen responsible for tumor rejection activity had a molecular weight of approximately 70,000 daltons in the presence of detergent and an electrophoretic mobility of alpha-globulin. TSTA was well separated from mouse histocompatibility antigen H-2 by a sequence of procedures, including gel filtration, lectin affinity chromatography, column electrophoresis, and rechromatography on agarose, showed only three major bands on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. TSTA was specific for sarcoma Meth-A.

TU-5, a simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed cell line of BALB/c origin, expressed the SV40-specific T-antigen and a transplantation antigen (TSTA). Nuclei and plasma membranes were prepared from these cells and shown on the basis of the distribution of T-antigen and histocompatibility (H-2) antigens to be relatively free of cross contamination. Most of the TSTA, estimated by tumor rejection, was associated with the nuclear fraction.