Allele-specific HLA loss and immune escape in lung cancer evolution
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Nicholas McGranahan Rachel Rosenthal Crispin T Hiley Andrew Rowan Thomas BK Watkins Gareth A Wilson Nicolai Birkbak Selvaraju Veeriah Peter Van Loo Javier Herrero Charles Swanton TRACERx ConsortiumAbstract
Immune evasion is a hallmark of cancer. Losing the ability to present neoantigens through human leukocyte antigen (HLA) loss may facilitate immune evasion. However, the polymorphic nature of the locus has precluded accurate HLA copy-number analysis. Here, we present loss of heterozygosity in human leukocyte antigen (LOHHLA), a computational tool to determine HLA allele-specific copy number from sequencing data. Using LOHHLA, we find that HLA LOH occurs in 40% of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and is associated with a high subclonal neoantigen burden, APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis, upregulation of cytolytic activity, and PD-L1 positivity. The focal nature of HLA LOH alterations, their subclonal frequencies, enrichment in metastatic sites, and occurrence as parallel events suggests that HLA LOH is an immune escape mechanism that is subject to strong microenvironmental selection pressures later in tumor evolution. Characterizing HLA LOH with LOHHLA refines neoantigen prediction and may have implications for our understanding of resistance mechanisms and immunotherapeutic approaches targeting neoantigens. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
Journal details
Journal Cell
Volume 171
Issue number 6
Pages 1259-1271 e11
Available online
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Publisher website (DOI) 10.1016/j.cell.2017.10.001
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Europe PubMed Central 29107330
Pubmed 29107330
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