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Lorenz, F.K.* ; Wilde, S. ; Voigt, K.* ; Kieback, E.* ; Mosetter, B. ; Schendel, D.J. ; Uckert, W.*

Codon optimization of the human papillomavirus E7 oncogene induces a CD8+ T cell response to a cryptic epitope not harbored by wild-type E7.

PLoS ONE 10:e0121633 (2015)
Publ. Version/Full Text DOI PMC
Open Access Gold
Creative Commons Lizenzvertrag
Codon optimization of nucleotide sequences is a widely used method to achieve high levels of transgene expression for basic and clinical research. Until now, immunological side effects have not been described. To trigger T cell responses against human papillomavirus, we incubated T cells with dendritic cells that were pulsed with RNA encoding the codon-optimized E7 oncogene. All T cell receptors isolated from responding T cell clones recognized target cells expressing the codon-optimized E7 gene but not the wild type E7 sequence. Epitope mapping revealed recognition of a cryptic epitope from the +3 alternative reading frame of codon-optimized E7, which is not encoded by the wild type E7 sequence. The introduction of a stop codon into the +3 alternative reading frame protected the transgene product from recognition by T cell receptor gene-modified T cells. This is the first experimental study demonstrating that codon optimization can render a transgene artificially immunogenic through generation of a dominant cryptic epitope. This finding may be of great importance for the clinical field of gene therapy to avoid rejection of gene-corrected cells and for the design of DNA- and RNA-based vaccines, where codon optimization may artificially add a strong immunogenic component to the vaccine.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Antigen-presenting Cells; Antitumor-activity; Human-lymphocytes; Dendritic Cells; Cancer; Mhc; Gene; Expression; Receptors; Molecules
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1932-6203
Journal PLoS ONE
Quellenangaben Volume: 10, Issue: 3, Pages: , Article Number: e0121633 Supplement: ,
Publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Publishing Place Lawrence, Kan.
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Molecular Immunology (IMI)