Table of Contents

Research Articles

• Research Articles | AuthorChoice

  Apoptosis-Regulated Low-Avidity Cancer-Specific CD8⁺ T Cells Can Be Rescued to Eliminate HER2/neu–Expressing Tumors by Costimulatory Agonists in Tolerized Mice

  Chelsea M. Black, Todd D. Armstrong and Elizabeth M. Jaffee

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 307-319; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0145

  
  

  Black and colleagues identify, for the first time, that low-avidity antitumor T cells are ineffective due to increased expression of proapoptotic proteins promoting activation-induced T-cell death, which can be overcome by TNFR agonists, implicating their use in cancer immunotherapy.

• Research Articles

  PD-1 Expression on Peripheral Blood Cells Increases with Stage in Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients and Is Rapidly Reduced after Surgical Tumor Resection

  Alexander W. MacFarlane IV, Mowafaq Jillab, Elizabeth R. Plimack, Gary R. Hudes, Robert G. Uzzo, Samuel Litwin, Essel Dulaimi, Tahseen Al-Saleem and Kerry S. Campbell

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 320-331; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0133

  
  

  MacFarlane and colleagues show that tumor resection reverses PD-1 expression on peripheral blood (PB) immune cells and suggest that PD-1 blockade for renal cell carcinoma patients with PD-1 expression on PB cells would be most effective prior to surgery, especially in early-stage cancer.

• Research Articles

  Large-Scale Evaluation of Common Variation in Regulatory T Cell–Related Genes and Ovarian Cancer Outcome

  Bridget Charbonneau, Kirsten B. Moysich, Kimberly R. Kalli, Ann L. Oberg, Robert A. Vierkant, Zachary C. Fogarty, Matthew S. Block, Matthew J. Maurer, Krista M. Goergen, Brooke L. Fridley, Julie M. Cunningham, David N. Rider, Claudia Preston, Lynn C. Hartmann, Kate Lawrenson, Chen Wang, Jonathan Tyrer, Honglin Song, Anna deFazio, Sharon E. Johnatty, Jennifer A. Doherty, Catherine M. Phelan, Thomas A. Sellers, Starr M. Ramirez, Allison F. Vitonis, Kathryn L. Terry, David Van Den Berg, Malcolm C. Pike, Anna H. Wu, Andrew Berchuck, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj, Susan J. Ramus, Brenda Diergaarde, Howard Shen, Allan Jensen, Janusz Menkiszak, Cezary Cybulski, Jan Lubiński, Argyrios Ziogas, Joseph H. Rothstein, Valerie McGuire, Weiva Sieh, Jenny Lester, Christine Walsh, Ignace Vergote, Sandrina Lambrechts, Evelyn Despierre, Montserrat Garcia-Closas, Hannah Yang, Louise A. Brinton, Beata Spiewankiewicz, Iwona K. Rzepecka, Agnieszka Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Petra Seibold, Anja Rudolph, Lisa E. Paddock, Irene Orlow, Lene Lundvall, Sara H. Olson, Claus K. Hogdall, Ira Schwaab, Andreas du Bois, Philipp Harter, James M. Flanagan, Robert Brown, James Paul, Arif B. Ekici, Matthias W. Beckmann, Alexander Hein, Diana Eccles, Galina Lurie, Laura E. Hays, Yukie T. Bean, Tanja Pejovic, Marc T. Goodman, Ian Campbell, Peter A. Fasching, Gottfried Konecny, Stanley B. Kaye, Florian Heitz, Estrid Hogdall, Elisa V. Bandera, Jenny Chang-Claude, Jolanta Kupryjanczyk, Nicolas Wentzensen, Diether Lambrechts, Beth Y. Karlan, Alice S. Whittemore, Hoda Anton Culver, Jacek Gronwald, Douglas A. Levine, Susanne K. Kjaer, Usha Menon, Joellen M. Schildkraut, Celeste Leigh Pearce, Daniel W. Cramer, Mary Anne Rossing, Georgia Chenevix-Trench, for the AOCS group, ACS, Paul D.P. Pharoah, Simon A. Gayther, Roberta B. Ness, Kunle Odunsi, Lara E. Sucheston, Keith L. Knutson and Ellen L. Goode

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 332-340; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0136

  
  

  Charbonneau and colleagues analyzed the genotypes and outcomes of 10,084 women from Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium studies and identified polymorphisms in regulatory T-cell genes associated with the survival of patients with endometrioid (IL2RA) and clear cell (CTLA4) invasive epithelial ovarian cancer.

• Research Articles

  Nonclassical Antigen-Processing Pathways Are Required for MHC Class II–Restricted Direct Tumor Recognition by NY-ESO-1–Specific CD4⁺ T Cells

  Junko Matsuzaki, Takemasa Tsuji, Immanuel Luescher, Lloyd J. Old, Protul Shrikant, Sacha Gnjatic and Kunle Odunsi

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 341-350; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0138

  
  

  Matsuzaki, Tsuji, and colleagues show that a unique subset of NY-ESO-1–specific CD4⁺ T cells directly recognize cancer cells and short 8-9-mer peptides via nonclassical pathways involving proteasomal degradation, transporter-associated antigen processing (TAP)–mediated peptide transport, and endosomal recycling.

• Research Articles

  MEK Inhibition, Alone or in Combination with BRAF Inhibition, Affects Multiple Functions of Isolated Normal Human Lymphocytes and Dendritic Cells

  Laura J. Vella, Anupama Pasam, Nektaria Dimopoulos, Miles Andrews, Ashley Knights, Anne-Laure Puaux, Jamila Louahed, Weisan Chen, Katherine Woods and Jonathan S. Cebon

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 351-360; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0181

  
  

  Vella and colleagues show that inhibition of BRAF (dabrafenib) had no effect on healthy donor T cells and monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MoDC), but that MEK inhibition (trametinib) suppressed T-cell proliferation, cytokine production, antigen-specific expansion, and MoDC cross-presentation.

• Research Articles

  PD-L1 Expression in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

  Elizabeth A. Mittendorf, Anne V. Philips, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Na Qiao, Yun Wu, Susan Harrington, Xiaoping Su, Ying Wang, Ana M. Gonzalez-Angulo, Argun Akcakanat, Akhil Chawla, Michael Curran, Patrick Hwu, Padmanee Sharma, Jennifer K. Litton, Jeffrey J. Molldrem and Gheath Alatrash

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 361-370; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0127

  
  

  Using tissue microarrays containing 105 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) specimens, Mittendorf and colleagues show that 20% of the TNBC specimens express PD-L1, half have lost PTEN, and inhibitors of PI3K pathway decrease PD-L1 expression, providing a rationale for therapeutic targeting of PD-L1 for TNBC.

• Research Articles

  Tumor Subtype-Specific Cancer–Testis Antigens as Potential Biomarkers and Immunotherapeutic Targets for Cancers

  Jun Yao, Otavia L. Caballero, W.K. Alfred Yung, John N. Weinstein, Gregory J. Riggins, Robert L. Strausberg and Qi Zhao

  Cancer Immunol Res April 1 2014 2 (4) 371-379; DOI:10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-13-0088

  
  

  Yao and colleagues surveyed the expression and methylation of CT antigens and clinicopathologic features of ten cancers in The Cancer Genome Atlas RNAseq datasets, identifying multiple tumor subtype-specific CT antigens to be studied as potential biomarkers and targets for immunotherapy.