Patent Abstract:
the invention concerns a method for identifying peptide compounds derived from hsp70 , having at least one mutation relative to the hsp70 natural sequence , said compounds bringing about a response t specific of tumours , and the peptide compounds obtainable by said method . the invention also concerns the use of said peptide compounds for performing repeated immunization in a subject so as to interrupt immune tolerance for the corresponding natural peptide . said peptide compounds are useful for preparing a medicine designed in particular for treating cancer optionally in combination with any agent provoking tumour cell stress .

Detailed Description:
the present invention relates to a method for identifying peptide compounds derived from hsp70 which have at least one mutation or one modification with respect to the natural hsp70 sequence , said compounds bringing about a t response specific for tumors , comprising the following steps : a ) pcr - amplifying a dna fragment encoding hsp70 , obtained from one or more tumor ( s ), b ) cloning the dna obtained in step a ) into a vector capable of replicating in a bacterium , c ) sequencing said fragment in each bacterial colony obtained after culturing the bacteria of step b ), and identifying the mutation ( s ) in hsp70 , d ) determining the immunogenicity of the mutated peptide fragments among those identified in step c ). advantageously , step d ) consists of an elispot assay . it is possible to simply test the immunogenicity of the peptide fragments which have an anchoring sequence for a given hla molecule ( see below , “ reverse immunology ” method ). the peptide fragments to be tested in step d ) can easily be obtained by chemical synthesis using general knowledge in the technical field . in the context of the invention , the term “ hsp70 ” is intended to mean both hsp70 - 1 and hsp70 - 2 . the elispot assay is widely described in the documents of the prior art . for example , herr et al , ( 1998 ) relates to an elispot method for detecting and quantifying cd8 + t lymphocytes secreting tnf - α . in summary , multiscreen - ha plates ( milllipore , bedford , mass .) are coated with an anti - tnf - α antibody ( clone 195 ; boehringer mannheim ), and cd8 + t lymphocytes are added e2 in the presence of antigenic peptides . the secreted tnf - α is detected with a rabbit anti - tnf - α antibody ( serotec , oxford , uk ), a biotin - coupled rabbit anti - igg antibody ( boehringer mannheim ) and the biotin - avidin - peroxidase complex ( vector , burlingame , calif .). the number and surface area of the zones in which the cytokine is present are determined automatically by computer ( herr et al , ( 1997 ). other documents , such as herr et al , ( 1996 ) materials and methods section , paragraph 2 , pages 132 to 135 , and scheibenbogen et al , ( 1997 ) page 933 , disclose this method , and are also incorporated into the description by way of reference . the invention also relates to a method for revealing artificial point mutations or modifications which can increase the immunogenicity of the mutated peptide compounds derived from hsp70 , wherein it comprises the following steps : a ) determining fragments which have a sequence of approximately 9 to 10 amino acids comprising an anchoring motif for a given hla molecule , b ) introducing an additional point mutation or modification at residues 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 or 8 , c ) determining the immunogenicity of the peptide fragments obtained in step b ). preferably , step c ) consists of an elispot assay . this method is well known to persons skilled in the art . there may also be incorporated , by way of reference , into the description , the teachings which are to be found at the following internet address : this method makes it possible to determine any artificial point mutation or modification , ( not present in human tumors ) which would be capable of improving the active principle ( the immunogenic mutated peptide ), using the so - called “ reverse immunology ” method . based on the knowledge of the amino acid sequence of a protein , such as hsp70 , it is possible to predict which of the peptides can bind to an hla pocket , whatever its specificity ( hla - a2 , hla - a1 , hla - b7 , etc . ), then to test these peptides in vitro for their capacity to bind effectively to the hla allele under consideration , and then to introduce a point mutation or modification into the amino acids at certain positions which are critical for affinity . the bimas computer program enables such a prediction to be obtained . the general rules regarding the amino acids involved in anchoring to hla molecules are given in parker et al , ( 1992 and 1994 ) and rammensee et al , ( 1995 ). this information is incorporated by way of reference into the description . of course , the method according to the invention is not limited to the use of the bimas program , and can be used with any equivalent program . another aspect of the invention relates to a peptide compound which can be obtained using a method described above . this compound is characterized by the fact that it comprises a sequence of at least 8 consecutive amino acids of hsp70 , by the fact that it has at least one mutation or one modification with respect to the natural hsp70 sequence , and by the fact that it brings about a specific t response . a specific aspect relates to a peptide compound having at least 80 % homology with the amino acids between positions 286 and 294 of hsp70 . preferably , the amino acid at position 293 is w isoleucine , leucine , valine , alanine , glycine or phenylalanine , more particularly isoleucine . the preferred peptide compounds of the invention have at least one of the following sequences : said compounds can also comprise unnatural amino acids which may or may not be equivalent to the natural amino acids . the term “ peptide compound ” is intended to mean an entity consisting at a minimum of a peptide fragment of hsp70 as defined above , or of a series of said peptide fragments , and having optionally one or more other elements other than natural or unnatural amino acids . the purpose of these elements is to chemically or physically protect said peptide fragments , and / or to promote their absorption by the body , and / or their administration , and / or their bioavailability . for example , this protection enables the peptides to reach their targets without undergoing the action of diverse proteases present in the body . such chemical modifications may also increase the affinity of an antigenic peptide for hla - a2 molecules , and allow an increased effectiveness of the vaccine in vivo to be obtained , rosenberg et al , ( 1998 ). protective chemical groups known to persons skilled in the art , which react with the nh2 and / or cooh ends of a peptide , this modification not significantly lowering the immunogenic nature of the peptide . the lipids or fatty acids which are covalently bonded to the peptide fragments so as to form peptide compounds termed lipopeptides . palmitic acid is one example among others , vitiello et al , ( 1995 ), which is incorporated into the description by way of reference . a carrier protein for said peptide fragments which possesses restriction sites and enables the intact peptide fragments to be conveyed to their sites of action in the body . a second aspect of the invention relates to the dna fragments encoding the peptide fragments mentioned above . the term “ dna fragments ” is intended to mean single - stranded or double - stranded dna , cdna and / or rna fragments . the nucleotide sequence corresponding to the amino acid sequence of said peptide fragments can vary so as to comprise all the various possible codons for a given amino acid according to the principle of degeneracy of the genetic code . a subject of the present invention is also a vector for expressing a peptide fragment , containing an abovementioned dna fragment fused to a promoter which is strong and effective in eukaryotic and / or in prokaryotic cells , in particular in human cells . the vector can be viral , a plasmid vector or a pseudovector , and can comprise selection markers and express immunological adjuvants such as cytokines and / or lymphokines . the invention also relates to dendritic cells loaded with peptide compounds , and dentritic cells transformed with the expression vector expressing the peptide fragments . these cells can also be macrophages . nestle et al , ( 1998 ), discloses a vaccination method which consists in loading the dendritic cells taken from a patient with antigenic peptides ( in culture in vitro ), and injecting them into the lymphatic system of this same patient . this publication is incorporated into the description by way of reference . the subject of another aspect of the invention is a pharmaceutical composition comprising a peptide compound , or a mixture of peptide compounds , according to the invention and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle . this composition can also comprise one or more immunological adjuvants , in particular factors which are cytotoxic for tumors . the invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising an expression vector as mentioned above and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle , or a dna fragment according to the invention , or alternatively the cells indicated above , and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle . a further aspect of the invention relates to a combination product comprising at least one peptide compound as claimed in the invention and at least one agent which induces cellular stress , for simultaneous or separate use , or for use spread out over time , intended for treating cancer . preferably , said agent can be capable of inducing overexpression of heat shock proteins , in particular hsp70 . advantageously , this agent is an apoptosis inducer , selected in particular from dna - damaging agents and glucocorticoid receptor ligands , or from pro - apoptotic second messengers . the combination product can comprise a viral vector which has a gene which encodes an enzyme for activating said pro - apoptotic agents , in particular thymidine kinase . the expression “ agent which induces cellular stress ” refers to any agent which is capable of inducing overexpression of heat shock proteins , in particular hsp70 . these agents can be in particular apoptosis - inducers . the expression “ apoptosis - inducing agent ” is intended to mean any substance which directly or indirectly affects the viability of a cell . said apoptosis - inducing agent of the present invention can be selected in particular from dna - damaging agents and glucocorticoid receptor ligands , or from pro - apoptotic second messengers . these agents can be selected preferably from those commonly used in the treatment of cancer . thus , said pro - apoptotic second messenger is in particular selected from the following compounds : glucocorticoid derivatives , from alkylating agents such as nitrogen mustards , for example cyclophosphamide , platinum complexes , for example cisplatin , ethyleneimine derivatives , dimethanesulfonoxy - alkane derivatives , piperazine derivatives , from topoisomerase inhibitors , such as topoisomerase 2 inhibitors , for example anthracyclines , epipodophyllotoxin such as etoposide , or topoisomerase - 1 inhibitors , for example camptothecin derivatives , from antimetabolites , such as antifolates , for example methotrexate , antipurines , for example 6 - mercaptopurine , or antipyrimidines , for example 5 - fluorouracil , from antimitotic agents , such as vinca alcaloids or taxoids such as taxotere , and from diverse cytolytic agents such as bleomycin , dacarbazine , hydroxycarbamide , asparaginase , mitoguazone or plicamycin . these antineoplastic agents are described in actualité pharmaceutiques no . 302 ( october 1992 ) pages 38 to 39 and 41 to 43 , incorporated into the description by way of reference . said apoptosis - inducing agent can also be chosen from gamma radiation used in radiotherapy , etoposide , doxorubicin , dexamethasone , ceramide , such as c8 - ceramide , and lonidamine . some of said anticancer agents are more particularly disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 260 , 327 , which relates to the use of lonidamine for treating metastases , in jo 5017353 , which relates to the use of lonidamine in combination with other anticancer agents , and in ep 291151 , which discloses the use of phlorizin derivatives . these documents are incorporated into the description by way of reference . the product according to the present invention can also comprise a viral vector which has a gene which encodes an enzyme which makes it possible to activate the abovementioned compounds and / or agents , for example thymidine kinase . many patents relate to the use of suicide genes which are activated in specific tissues , in particular for sensitizing cancerous cells to nucleotide analogs . among these documents , which are incorporated into the description by way of reference , are : ep 494776 , ep 690129 , ep 657540 and ep 657541 , which relate in particular to the manufacturing of a medicinal product comprising a vector which has a gene which is capable of catalyzing the changing of a prodrug into an active substance . more particularly , the subject of ep 657539 is the use of the thymidine kinase gene with a cellular specificity , for treating cancer . in another embodiment , the agent which induces cellular stress is selected from compounds which induce tumor hypoxia , in particular from angiogenesis inhibitors . mention may be made in particular of endostatin and angiostatin disclosed by j . folkman , thrombospondin - 1 and - 2 ( tsp - 1 , - 2 ) locopo et al ( 1998 ); the factors ifn gamma , tnf alpha and il - 1alpha , maier et al ( 1999 ), and u - 995 , an inhibitor derived from shark cartilage , sheu et al ( 1998 ). these publications , the review on natural inhibitors , paper et al ( 1998 ), and the general review on the various known inhibitors , harris et al ( 1998 ), are incorporated by way of reference into the description . the pharmaceutical composition or combination product according to the invention can also comprise one or more immunological adjuvants , in particular agents which are cytotoxic for tumors . these products can comprise a pharmaceutical vehicle which is compatible with iv , subcutaneous , oral or nasal administration , and which is preferably selected from positively or negatively charged liposomes , nanoparticles or lipid emulsions . the present invention also relates to the use of a peptide compound for manufacturing a medicinal product , in particular intended for treating cancer , particularly solid tumors , especially carcinomas , melanomas , neuroblastomas and neck and head cancers , preferably renal carcinomas . this medicinal product can be intended for immunization ex situ or in situ . the invention also relates to the use of said peptide compound for increasing , in culture medium , the tumor ctl population and / or inducing the secretion by said ctls of cytotoxic factors , such as for example il - 2 , ifn - γ or tnf , and / or for stimulating the immune defenses , in particular so as to increase the tumor ctl population and / or induce the secretion by said ctls of cytotoxic factors , such as for example il - 2 , ifn - γor tnf . of course , the compositions and products of the invention can be used in combination with radiotherapy . advantageously , the compositions and products of the invention can be taken advantage of to perform repeated immunization for the purpose of causing a breakdown of tolerance against the corresponding natural peptide ( nonmutated ) in a patient . specifically , since it is known that hsp70 is or may be overexpressed in tumors , it is most advantageous to be able to immunize patients against this protein . immunization with the mutated peptides of this protein is capable of breaking down the tolerance of the immune system of patients with respect to hsp70 and consequently , of specifically stimulating cytotoxic and helper t lymphocytes against cancerous cells , whatever the type of cancer or of patient . an additional aspect of the invention relates to a method for producing an antibody which binds to an hsp70 mutant , in particular to the hsp70 - 2 i - 293 mutant , comprising the steps consisting in : a ) immunizing a mammal with a peptide compound as claimed in the invention , b ) isolating a monoclonal antibody which binds to hsp70 - 2 - 293 , particularly to hsp70 - 2 i - 293 , in an immunological assay . the present invention also comprises a monoclonal antibody which binds to hsp70 - 2 - 293 , particularly to hsp70 - 2 i - 293 , and a method for detecting the hsp70 - 2 - 293 mutation or modification , in particular the hsp70 - 2 i - 293 mutation or modification , in which the steps consist in : a ) bringing a sample taken from an individual into contact with one said monoclonal antibody , b ) allowing the formation of the antibody / hsp70 - 2 - 293 complex , c ) detecting hsp70 - 2 - 293 by means of a detectable label which is in the complex or which binds to the complex . in a further embodiment , the present invention relates to a diagnostic kit comprising in particular one or more of said antibodies . this kit can in particular be used for detecting cancer and for the prognostic of established cancer in an individual . finally , a subject of the invention is also a pharmaceutical composition comprising one or more of said monocolonal antibodies and a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle . the present invention relates , in the same way , to the use of the abovementioned pharmaceutical composition in medicine , for manufacturing a medicinal product , in particular for treating cancer , particularly for treating solid tumors , advantageously carcinomas , melanomas , neuroblastomas , and neck and head cancers , preferably renal carcinomas . the subject of the present invention thus makes it possible to stimulate the immune defenses by increasing the population of ctls specific for tumors , and by inducing the secretion by said ctls of cytotoxic factors . such an amplification of the specific ctls amounts to bringing about and to expanding a veritable army of cells which destroy tumors . specifically , cytotoxic t lymphocytes play a specific role in antigen recognition , and infiltrate into even solid tumors . the activity of ctls consists in recognizing the antigen combined with syngeneic class i mhc molecules . the ctls and the target cell then form a bond via the cd8 - tcr association with mhc i . recognition , highly specific binding , and formation of the tcr - cd8 - mhci ( antigenic peptide ) ternary complex . secretion by ctls of perforin and of various enzymes toward the target cell membrane . formation of channels in the target cell membrane by polymerization of the perforin by an enzyme , in the presence of calcium ( polyperforin channels ). passage of proteases and of toxins through the channels , and action inside the target cell . other toxic factors , such as tnf - α , lymphotoxin ( tnf - β ) and ifn - γ , released by the ctls bind to specific receptors of the target cell membrane . apoptosis is then observed , characterized by the fragmentation of dna , by budding of the cytoplasmic membrane , and by the disintegration of the cell into small fragments ( apoptotic bodies ). a subject of the invention is thus to supply the body with sufficient amounts of peptides which have a high immunogenic potential and are specific for tumors . such peptide fragments are very rare , diluted among an infinite number of peptides , and difficult to identify . in fact , the binding of the peptides with the mhc molecule is located in an invagination which has a specific topology and specific physicochemical properties , which vary depending on the nature of the amino acids involved . thus , a peptide ( approximately 9 amino acids ) binds to an mhc as a function of the nature of these side chains and of its complementarity with the mhc molecule cavity . this association with the mhc takes place in specific intracellular organisms . antigenic proteins are generally degraded to peptides in proteasomes ( ubiquitous multicatalytic proteinase complexes ) before the transport of said peptides into the rough endoplasmic reticulum ( rer ). the mhc i synthesis and the assembly with the peptides takes place in the rer . then , the antigen - mhc i complexes are exported to the surface of the cells via the golgi apparatus . it is thus understood why only certain peptides can bind to the mhc i . with regard to the peptides of the present invention , it has been demonstrated ( see below ) that they have a very low dissociation constant kd ( very strong association ). in this respect , they make it possible to activate the immune system effectively , in particular the ctls . the ctls specific for rcc can be isolated from the tumor - infiltrating lymphocytes ( tils ) of a patient . at least 80 % of the rcc tils are activated dr + lag - 3 + cd8 + cells , angevin et al . ( 1997 ). subsequent to a short activation of these tils in vitro , a response of th1 - polarized type was observed ( secretion of il - 2 and of interferon γ , but not of il - 4 ). on the other hand , finke et al , ( 1993 ) has published that the apparent lack of activity of tils in vivo is due to the poor functioning of the various regulatory cascades in these cells . however , among the 5 ctls described in the present invention , clone 2a11 ( tcrbv1j1s6 ) is particularly advantageous since it is amplified at the tumor site and represents up to 3 % of the tcr α / β + tils . in addition , this clone recognizes an antigen specific for tumors which is presented by hla - cw16 , angevin et al . ( 1997 ). this thus demonstrates that the hla - c molecules are capable of presenting elements at the tumor site in this patient . hsp70 is encoded by the duplicated locus ( hsp70 - 1 , hsp70 - 2 ) located in the mhc region at 92 kb from the c2 gene in the direction of the telomer , milner et al , ( 1990 ). this dna segment is termed class iv region , and comprises at least 7 genes involved in inflammatory responses and stress responses , gruen , ( 1997 ). the two intron - lacking genes ( hsp70 - 1 and hsp70 - 2 ) encode an identical protein of 641 amino acids . there are a few sequence differences in the promoter region and complete divergence in the untranslated 3 ′ region . using a probe specific for hsp70 - 2 , a rise in the amount of mrna ( 2 . 4 kb ) has been shown subsequent to a heat shock . the hsp70 - 2 probe has made it possible to detect a small amount of 2 . 4 - kb mrna in the constitutive rna of the cell lines of the rcc tumor and in frozen surgical samples of said tumor . the reason for which the allogenic cell line hla - a2 + rcc , which expresses low levels of hsp70 - 2 mrna , was not killed by ctl 11c2 , may be due to the difference observed in target sensitization assays between the mutated peptides and the wild - type decapeptide 286 - 295 ( 5 × 10 − 11 m and 5 × 10 − 8 m , respectively , for maximum half - lysis ). the transcription and overexpression of wild - type hsp70 - 2 in cos - 7 cells induce the secretion of tnf by ctl 11c2 . it is known that hsps are nonpolymorphic molecules which do not differ in their primary structure among normal tissues and cancers , or among normal cells and cells infected with viruses . thus , the immunization capacity of preparations comprising hsp is due to the association of the hsp molecules with peptides generated by the cells from which the hsps were isolated . specifically , the hsp - peptide complexes can be generated in vitro , and the biological activity of such complexes is comparable to that of the hsp - peptide complexes generated in vivo , blachere et al , ( 1997 ). while this observation demonstrates that hsps are adjuvants which elicit a response from cd8 + t cells , our results indicate that certain peptide fragments of hsp70 are directly immunogenic . for the remainder of the description and for the examples , reference will be made to the figures whose legend is given below . fig1 : specific lytic activity of clone 11c2 against the rcc - 7 autologous cell line . the cytotoxicity of the 11c2 - ctls with respect to the rcc - 7 cell line was assayed by the standard chromium release assay at various effector / target ratios ( e / t ratio ). the inhibition of the cytotoxic activity of 11c2 was assayed after several preincubations of the ctls for two hours with the anti - hla class 1 mab ( monoclonal antibody ) indicated , at a predetermined saturation concentration . fig2 : secretion of tnf by the 11c2 - ctl clone during stimulation with the rcc - 7 autologous cell line . 5000 ctls were incubated with 20 , 000 rcc - 7 cells . the amount of tnf was measured after culturing for 20 hours , by assaying the toxicity of the supernatants with tnf - sensitive wehi - 164 cells ( clone 13 ). the inhibition of the secretion of tnf was assayed after preincubation of clone 11c2 for two hours with the anti - class 1 hla mab as indicated . fig3 : cytotoxicity of the 11c2 ctls on multiple rcc allogenic cell lines . 11c2 was assayed on the rcc - 7 autologous line and on multiple rcc allogenic cell lines ( rcc - 8 , rcc - 9 , rcc - 10 and rcc - 11 ) in a standard chromium release assay at the e / t ratio indicated . the hla molecules shared with rcc - 7 are indicated in brackets . fig4 : stimulation of the 11c2 ctl by the cells transiently cotransfected with the autologous hla - a * 0201 cddn and the a18 cdna . the 11c2 ctl was added 48 hours after cotransfection . the tnf contained in the supernatants was estimated 20 hours later by assaying its toxicity on wehi - 164 cells ( clone 13 ). the stimulatory cells comprise the rcc - 7 cell line as a positive control and cos - 7 cells which are nontransfected or transfected with the hla * 0201 cdna alone as a negative control . fig5 : location of the epitope region of hsp70 - 2 recognized by the 11c2 ctl . ( a ) the total length of the hsp70 - 2 cdna is represented schematically in black and white . 5 ′ ut and 3 ′ ut correspond to the 5 ′ and 3 ′ untranslated regions respectively . the coding region ( in black ) begins with the translation start site ( atg codon ) and corresponds to nucleotide + 1 . the multiple truncated clones obtained from the a18 cdna are represented in gray . the a18 cdna begins at nucleotide 577 of the coding region . the mutated nucleotide is marked with an asterisk ( position 877 ). ( b ) illustrates the stimulation of the 11c2 ctl by cos - 7 cells temporarily cotransfected with the autologous hla - a * 0201 cdna and with each of the various truncated a18 cdnas . the transfected cells were incubated for 24 hours with 5000 11c2 ctls , and the ld amount of tnf was measured 20 hours later . the control stimulatory cells comprise cos - 7 cells which are non - transfected or transfected with the a18 cdna alone , as a negative control , and cotransfected with the a18 and a * 0201 cdnas as a positive control . fig6 : lysis by 11c2 ctls of the autologous cell line transformed with ebv and incubated with the peptides encoded by hsp70 - 2 2000 cells transformed with ebv and labeled with 51 cr were incubated for 1 hour in the presence of the indicated hsp70 - 2 peptides ( seq id nos . 2 , 7 , 1 , and 8 ) at multiple concentrations . the 11c2 ctl was then added at an effector / target ratio ( e / t ) of 31 / 1 . chromium release was measured 4 hours later . the asterisks indicate the mutated amino acids . fig7 : induction of hla - a2 expression on t2 cells by the hsp70 - 2 antigenic peptides . t2 cells were incubated at 26 ° c . for 16 hours in serum - free medium , with or without peptide at a concentration of 20 μm . next , the peptides ( seq id nos . 2 , 7 , 1 , and 8 ) were again added , and the cells were incubated at 37 ° c . at 30 - minute or one - hour intervals , the cell pellets were collected and the change in hla - a2 expression was analyzed by flow cytometry with an anti - hla - a2 mab ( ma2 . 1 ). the amino acid sequences of the peptides are represented . the mutated amino acid is represented by an asterisk . the total cytoplasmic rna ( 15 μg ), derived from the rcc - 7 tumor ( row no . 1 ), from the rcc - 7 cell line ( no . 2 ), and the autologous cell line transformed with ebv ( no . 3 ), is maintained at 37 ° c . ( subrow c ) or treated by heat shock for 2 hours at 40 ° c . ( subrow hs ), was fractionated on denaturing formaldehyde / agarose gel and transferred onto hybond - n + nylon membrane . the northern blot was hybridized with the probes consisting of a fragment specific for hsp70 and for the glyceraldehyde - 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ) cdna . the migration position of the 28s and 18s rnas is given . the approximately 2 . 4 - kb hsp70 - 2 transcript is indicated by an arrow above the 18s rna and above the gapdh mrna . this figure shows that the mutation or modification brings about a highly increased immunogenecity power . mutated hsp is the peptide compound according to the invention , hsp nat is the corresponding natural peptide ( nonmutated ), mp is the positive control ( very immunogenic peptide of the “ matrix protein ” and t2 is the negative control ( cells not stimulated by the peptide ). the studies of the present invention have allowed the isolation of rcc - ctl clones originating from tils ( tumor - infiltrating lymphocytes ) obtained in three different experiments and using two experimental conditions ( use of il - 2 or of il - 2 + il - 7 + il - 12 ). between the 20th and 30th day , these cells , belonging to the cultures which show considerable lysis of the autologous cell line of the rcc - 7 tumor , were cloned by a limiting dilution . out of 8 clones obtained by this protocol , 5 were selected as a function of their distinct tcr phenotype . all the clones are tcr α / β + cd8 + cd4 − cytotoxic cells , and produce tnf when they are stimulated by autologous cells of the tumor . the blocking effect of the anti - class 1 mab wc / 32 showed that the cytotoxic activity is mhc i molecule - restricted ( fig1 ). the lytic activity of clone 11c2 was blocked by mab ma2 . 1 specific for hla - a2 ( fig2 ). this result suggests that hla - a2 is the presentation molecule for 11c2 , and that 11c2 recognizes the autologous cells of the tumors ( fig3 ). in order to identify the gene encoding the antigen a genetic approach was used , comprising the transfection of a cdna library originating from the rcc tumor into cos - 7 cells with the cdna encoding the hla - a2 presentation molecule , seed b . ( 1987 ). the expression vector used contains the sv40 origin of replication , which allows a considerable multiplication of the episomes of the transfected plasmid , and thus high expression of the transfected genes . a cdna library was used which was constructed in the pcdna i expression vector using the rnas originating from the rcc - 7 cell line . this library was divided into 400 parts of 200 recombinant plasmids , and each part was cotransfected in duplicate with the pcdna i autologous hla - a * 0201 construct , into cos - 7 cells . the cos - 7 cells were then assayed for their capacity to stimulate the production of tnf by clone 11c2 . 48 hours later , the cotransfected cos - 7 cells were incubated overnight with 11c2 , and the tnf concentration in the supernatant was determined through its cytotoxic action on wehi cells . the amount of tnf in the supernatants is below 5 pg / ml , except for two pairs ( 40 and 45 pg / ml ) of duplicated experiments . the second screening was carried out by transfecting the cos cells with 100 parts of 20 recombinant plasmids originating from the extraction of double positives . finally , a third screening led to two cdna clones ( termed a8 and b65 ) being isolated , which make it possible to transfer the antigen expression into the hla - a 0201 cos - 7 cells . the results obtained with the a18 cdna clone is presented in fig4 . the sequence of the longest cdna ( a18 ) is 1 . 9 kb with 100 % homology to the nucleotides from 577 to 2876 of the hsp70 - 2 cdna , except for a mutation at position 877 ( an adenine in place of a thymine ). position + 1 is the translation start site of hsp70 - 2 , milner et al , 1990 . with the aim of identifying the entire length of the hsp70 - 2 cdna , and in order to verify whether the mutation is only present at the tumor site , we performed a pcr ( hsp70 - 2 is an intron - lacking gene ) on the dna originating from the extraction of rcc - 7 cells and of b cells transformed with ebv and of pha blasts . a single 2 - kb product , corresponding to nucleotide − 36 to 1974 , was obtained in each of the cases , and was subcloned into the vector pcdna i for sequencing and expression . 4 of the 7 dna clones , obtained from the tumor fragment , have the mutation . for the cells transformed with ebv and the blasts , none of the 14 dna sequences analyzed carries the mutation . thus , the mutation is present only on a chromosome in the tumor cells and is absent in the normal cells . in order to delimit the minimum nucleotide region encoding the antigenic peptide , multiple truncated cdnas were obtained from the a18 cdna clone . the use of exonuclease iii made it possible to gradually generate deletions starting from the 3 ′ end of the cdna ( fig5 ). these cdna fragments were cotransfected into cos - 7 cells with the autologous hla - a * 0201 cdna . a minimum coding nucleotide region was located between nucleotides 730 and 944 . the truncation in the region carrying the single mutation specific for the tumor abolishes recognition by 11 c2 ctls . peptides carrying the hlas - a * 0201 binding motif were sought in this region , and among the 18 peptides assayed , only 2 ( the nonapeptide slfegidiy ( seq id no : 1 ), amino acids 286 to 294 , and the decapeptide slfegidiyt ( seq id no : 2 ), amino acids carrying the mutant isoleucine residue at position 8 were recognized . maximum half - lysis was obtained with only 5 × 10 − 11 m of the decapeptide , compared to 5 × 10 − 7 m of the nonapeptide ( fig6 ). 11 c2 ctl also recognizes the wild - type decapeptide 286 - 295 ( slfegidfyt ) ( seq id no : 7 ), with a maximum half - lysis of 5 × 10 − 8 m , but not the wild - type nonapeptide 286 - 294 ( fig6 ). antigenic peptides which can bind hla - a2 can regulate positively the expression of hla - a2 molecules in t2 cells , nijman et al . ( 1993 ). the binding capacity of the hsp70 - 2 286 - 295 decapeptides ( mutated and wild - type ) was compared to that of the nonapeptide 286 - 294 . the binding of these two decapeptides is stable over a period of 4 hours at 20 μm without showing any difference between the mutant and wild - type forms ( fig7 ). the hsp70 - 2 nonapeptides are less effective , but their binding is comparable to that of the mart - 1 27 - 35 peptide to hla - a2 . as could be expected , no effect was observed for the control peptide hla - b7 ( see fig7 ). a probe specific for the hsp70 - 2 locus , including the 3 ′ untranslated region , was used to examine the expression of the hsp70 - 2 gene . a 2 . 4 - kb mrna was detected in the autologous cells transformed with ebv . similarly , a low level of expression was observed in the untreated rcc - 7 cells and in the frozen surgical samples of rcc - 7 ( fig8 ). low levels of expression were also observed in other tumors , in particular in melanomas , neuroblastomas , adenocarcinomas of the colon and bladder tumor fragments . the cell lines were established from the cells of renal carcinoma rcc , as described previously by angevin et al , 1997 . in summary , the primary tumors were obtained from untreated patients who had undergone a radical nephrectomy in our institution . patient 7 ( hla - a2 , - a29 , - b44 , - b51 , - cw15 , - cw16 ) is a 54 - year - old male individual with a metastatic rcc . after surgery and enzymatic digestion , fresh cell suspensions from the rcc tumors were seeded in a culture medium composed of dulbeccos &# 39 ; modified eagle medium ( dmem ), penicillin ( 50 iu / ml ), streptomycin ( 50 μg / ml ), 1 % of 200 mm l - glutamine , 1 % of 200 mm sodium pyruvate , 10 % of fetal calf serum ( fcs ) and 1 % of ultroser g ( gibco - brl , paisley , uk ). this medium is termed , in the remainder of the document , “ rcc medium ”. all the tumor cell lines were maintained in this rcc medium . the rcc - 7 cell line was obtained from the primary tumor of patient 7 . the ebv autologous cell line was obtained after infection of pbmcs of patient 7 . the cell line transformed with ebv was maintained in rpmi 1640 ( gibco - brl ), supplemented with 10 % of fcs . wehi - 164 clone 13 , a tnf - sensitive mouse fibrosarcoma cell line , was diligently provided by benoit van den eynde ( ludwig institute for cancer research , brussels , belgium ), and was cultured in rpmi 1640 ( seromed , biochrom kg , berlin , germany ) supplemented with l - glutamine , sodium pyruvate , antibiotics and 5 % of fcs , at a concentration of 0 . 01 to 0 . 05 × 10 6 cells / ml . the mutant human cell line cem × 721 . 174 . t2 ( t2 ), salter et al , ( 1989 ), was maintained in rpmi - 1640 supplemented with 10 % of fcs . this cell line was diligently provided by pierre langlade ( pasteur institute , paris , france ). all cell cultures were maintained in an atmosphere saturated with water and with a 5 % co 2 content . the tils , originating from the tumor suspensions , were inoculated in flasks containing rpmi 1640 , penicillin , streptomycin , 1 % of l - glutamine , 1 % of sodium pyruvate and 8 % of human ab serum ( institut jacques boy s . a ., reims , france ), termed complete medium . the tils were seeded at the same concentration in complete medium supplemented with 10 iu / ml of ril - 2 , 50 iu / ml of ril - 7 ( sanofi , toulouse , france ) and 10 iu / ml of ril - 12 ( genetics institute , cambridge , mass . ), for three days . from the 3 rd day onward , the tils were fed using the complete medium with 30 iu / ml of ril - 2 , 50 iu / ml of ril - 7 and 10 iu / ml of ril - 12 . the phenotype and the cytotoxic activity of the til cell lines were characterized after 14 and 21 days of stimulation . the mabs conjugated either to fluorescein ( fitc ) or to phycoerythrin ( pe ), and directed against the tcr α / β , cd3 ( leu4 ), cd4 ( leu3a ), cd8 ( leu8 ), cd80 ( b7 . 1 ) and hla dr ( l249 ), were purchased from becton dickinson ( mountain view , calif .). cd56 ( nkh1a ) originates from coultronics ( hialeah , fla .). the tils were characterized by double immunostaining , by incubating the cells for 30 min at 4 ° c . with fitc - or pe - mab . the flow cytometry analysis was carried out on a facscan ( becton dickinson ) and using the cellquest software . the laboratory ascites were w6 . 32 ( anti - hla - a / b / c ), ma2 . 1 ( anti - hla - a2 and - b17 ) and b1 . 23 . 2 ( anti - hla - b / c ), and were selected for the functional and immunofluorescence experiments , at predetermined saturation concentrations up to a final dilution of between 1 / 200 and 1 / 2000 . after culturing for 3 weeks , the lymphocytes were cloned by diluting them to the limit . the cloning was performed between 600 and 0 . 6 cells / well , in 96 - well plates containing rpmi medium supplemented with 8 % of human ab serum , 30 iu / ml of ril - 2 and 3 % of tcgf . at the bottom of the wells , a feeder layer was cultured consisting of irradiated autologous tumor cells ( 1 × 10 4 / well ), of irradiated allogenic lymphocytes ( 8 × 10 4 per well ) and of irradiated cells transformed with ebv ( 2 × 10 4 / well ). the clones were fed three times per week with the complete medium containing ril2 and tcgf . the immunological phenotype and the cytotoxicity were characterized for the cloned cells . the cytotoxicity assays were carried out using the standard 4 - hour chromium release assay , as described above , angevin et al , ( 1997 ). in summary , 2 × 10 3 51 cr - labeled target cells were incubated for 4 hours at 37 ° c ., with the effector cells at various e / t ratios , in a final volume of 200 μl . with regard to lysis inhibition by the mabs , the target cells were preincubated for two hours in the presence of saturating concentrations of mab , before adding the effector cells . at the end of the incubation , 40 μl of supernatant were transferred to lumaplate 96 solid scintillation plates ( packard instruments , meriden , conn . ), were dried overnight and counted in a beta - radioactivity counter ( packard instruments ). the class 1 hla alleles were cloned using the pcr method described by ennis et al , ( 1990 ), with a few slight modifications . the total rna was prepared from the rcc - 7 cell line using rna b ( bioprobe systems ). the c ) first cdna strand was synthesized with an oligo ( dt ) probe and reverse transcriptase ( invitrogen ). the cdna was used as a matrix for a 30 - cycle pcr amplification with the following probes : these probes correspond to the consensus sequences of the 5 ′ and 3 ′ untranslated regions , respectively , of the class 1 alleles . these probes are identical to the hla - 5p2 and hla - 3p2 probes described above , ennis et al . ( 1990 ), except for the cloning site ( the sal i and hind iii sites for 5p2 , and the hind iii and xba i sites for 3p2 , respectively , were replaced . the pcr products were digested with hind iii and xba i , and ligated into the plasmid pcdna i ( invitrogen ) these constructs were transfected into e . coli mc 1061 / p3 . the plasmid dna was then extracted from several colonies using qiagen columns ( qiagen ). the dna sequencing was carried out using the “ abi prism dye terminator cycle sequencing ready reaction kit ” ( applied biosystems ) and an automatic dna sequencer . the sequences were compared to the class i hla nucleotide sequences available in the databases . the poly ( a )+ rna was extracted from the rcc - 7 cell line using the mrna isolation system ( fast track kit 2 . 0 , invitrogen ), respecting the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions . the first cdna strand was synthesized using amv reverse transcriptase with an oligo - dt probe containing a not i site at its 5 ′ end . the rna - cdna hybrid created by the synthesis of the first strand was transformed into double - stranded cdna with dna polymerase i in combination with rnase h and dna ligase from e . coli . next , t4 dna polymerase was used to produce a blunt cleavage in the cdna . bstx i linkers were added , and the size of the cdna was obtained by fractionation on agarose gel . the cdna of desired size ( longer than 800 nucleotides ) was ligated into the vector pcdna i cleaved with bstx i / not i , and the suitable e . coli strain ( mc1061 / p3 ) was transformed . for the screening experiments , the plasmid dna obtained from some bacterial colonies was prepared according to the following protocol : 100 or 200 colonies , cultured in lb - agar medium ( with 30 μl / ml of ampicillin and 10 μl / ml of tetracycline , were seeded in 2 ml of lb medium and incubated overnight at 37 ° c . the plasmid dna was extracted using the alkaline lysis method , birnboim et al , ( 1979 ), and was resuspended in 30 μl in 10 mm tris - 1 mm edta , ph 7 . 5 , containing 20 μl / ml of rnase a . the plasmid dna concentration was adjusted to 40 ng / μl . the transfection experiments were carried out by the “ deae - dextran - chloroquin method , brichard et al , ( 1993 ). three days before transfection , the cos - 7 cells were seeded in 96 - microwell plates at the concentration of 5 × 10 3 cells / well , in 150 μl of rpmi medium containing 20 % of fetal calf serum . for the transfection , the medium was replaced with 30 μl of deae - dextran / dna mixture . these mixtures were prepared for double transfections in microwells by adding sequentially : 200 ng of plasmid dna originating from the cdna library , 200 ng of plasmid pcdna i / hla - a * 0201 , 25 μl of 150 mm nacl , 10 mm tris , ph 7 . 4 ( termed tbs buffer ), 35 μl of tbs containing 1 mg / ml of deae - dextran ( pharmacia biotech europe gmbh , saclay , france ). the cells were incubated with this mixture plus 105 μl of dmem supplemented with 10 % of non - complemented “ nuserum ” ( becton dickinson ) and 100 mm of chloroquin ( sigma - aldrich chimie sarl , saint quentin fallavier , france ), for 30 minutes at room temperature . next , the cells were incubated for 4 hours at 37 ° c . under a 5 % co 2 atmosphere . after incubation , the medium was removed , and the cells were incubated for 2 min in 1 × pbs containing 10 % of a solution of dimethyl sulfoxide . the cells were washed once with 1 × pbs , and incubated in rpmi containing 10 % of fcs for 48 hours . the medium was then removed and the cells were washed once with 1 × pbs . 5000 ctls were added to the wells in 100 μl of rpmi containing 10 % of fcs , after 20 hours , the supernatant was collected and its tnf content was determined by assaying its cytotoxicity on wehi - 164 clones 13 in an mtt ( 3 -[ 4 , 5 - dimethylthiozole ]- 2 , 5 - diphenyltetrazolium bromide ( sigma - aldrich ) calorimetric assay , as described previously , traversari et al , ( 1992 ). with regard to the inhibition of the secretion of tnf by the mabs , the target cells were preincubated for 2 hours in the presence of a saturating concentration of mabs , before adding the effector cells for a further 20 hours . the genomic dna was extracted from the rcc - 7 cell line with dnazol ™ ( life technologies ). 1 μl of dna was used for a pcr reaction using taq dna polymerase ( perkin elmer ). the following probes were used : ( nucleotides 1955 to 1974 , antisense ), seq id no . 6 . these probes contain the hind iii and xba i restriction sites , respectively . the conditions for the pcr were 98 ° c . for 1 min , followed by 30 amplification cycles ( 98 ° c . for 15 sec , 65 ° c . for 1 min , 72 ° c . for 2 min , with a final extension for 10 min at 72 ° c .). the pcr product obtained was digested with hind iii and xba i and purified on absorbent glass beads ( geneclean ), and was then subcloned into the hind iii and xba i sites of the expression vector pcdna i for sequencing and cotransfection , with hla - a * 0201 , into the cos - 7 cells . the a18 cdna was isolated from the cdna library manufactured from the expression vector pcdna i . the plasmid was digested with sph i and xba i , before treatment with exonuclease iii in order to generate gradual deletions starting from the 3 ′ end of the a18 cdna . in order to obtain a considerable number of truncated cdna clones , the “ exo mung bean deletion kit ” ( stratagene ) was used . after ligation , the bacterium e . coli mc1061 / p3 was transformed with the truncated cdnas . the plasmid dna was extracted from each clone , and then sequenced and cotransfected , with hla - a * 0201 into the cos - 7 cells . in the screening assay , the peptides used were synthesized by “ pepset technology ” ( chiron technologies , suresnes , france ). for the functional assays , the peptides were synthesized on solid phase using f - moc ( temporary nh2 - terminal protection ), and were purified by preparative hplc . the analytical hplc indicates that the peptides are at least 95 % pure . the lyophilized peptides were dissolved in 10 mm of dmso in water , and conserved at − 20 ° c . the peptides were used in a chromium release assay . 2000 autologous cells transformed with ebv , and labeled with 51 cr , were incubated for 1 hour at 37 ° c . on 96 - well plates , with diverse concentrations of peptides , before adding 11c2 ctls . t2 cells , nijman et al , ( 1993 ), were cultured 48 hours before the assay , in a serum - free aim - vwmedium ( gibco - brl ). for the binding assays , the t2 cells ( 106 ) were incubated at 26 ° c . for 16 hours in the same medium in 0 . 8 % of dmso , with or without peptide at a concentration of 20 μm . next , the peptides ( 20 μm ) were again added , and the cells were incubated at 37 ° c . at 30 - min or one - hour intervals , the cell pellets were collected , and the hla - a2 expression level was monitored using the anti - hla - a2 mab ( ma2 . 1 ). the cells were either maintained at 37 ° c . or underwent a heat shock at 42 ° c . for 2 hours , before recovery by centrifugation . the total rna was extracted by guanidinium isothocyanate lysis , and was ultra - centrifuged in cesium chloride . samples of total rna ( 15 μg ) were fractionated in a denaturing gel containing 1 % of formaldehyde - agarose , and were transferred onto hybond - n + nylon membranes respecting the manufacturer &# 39 ; s instructions ( amersham france s . a ., les ulis , france ). the northern blot was hybridized with a probe specific for hsp70 - 2 ( nucleotides 1955 to 2159 ) and with the glyceraldehyde - 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ) probe . all probes were labeled with [ 32 p ] dctp ( 3000 ci mmol − 1 ) using the prime - it ™ ii random primer labeling kit ( stratagene ). the hybridization was carried out at 45 ° c . for 16 hours with the hsp70 - 2 probe ( 106 cpm / ml ) and the gapdh probe ( 105 cpm / ml ). the membranes were washed twice with 2 × ssc at room temperature , once for 45 min with 2 × ssc / 0 . 1 % sds at 62 ° c ., and once at 62 ° c . for 10 min with 0 . 1 × ssc , before autoradiography at 80 ° c . for 11 days . cd8 + cells were isolated from hla - a2 - positive donors by negative immunomagnetic purification ( using antibodies against cd4 and cd56 cells ). 100 , 000 cd8 + cells were directly added to 100 , 000 hla - a2 . 1 - positive t2 cells loaded with 10 − 6 m of peptides , in 96 - well plates in which the bottom is coated with nitrocellulose ( millipore ). after stimulation of the cd8 + cells for 20 hours , an elispot - ifnγ assay was performed . the results are given in table i below . the positive control is the peptide mp or “ matrix protein ”, this being an influenza virus envelope protein which is very immunogenic in humans . these results show that it is possible to induce human cd8 lymphocytes from healthy hla - 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