Jumping genes are short sections of DNA that have been incorporated randomly into the human genome over the long course of evolution. Also called transposable elements, these pieces of DNA have been implicated in the development of cancer.
But new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that transposable elements in various cancers potentially may be used to direct novel immunotherapies to tumors that don’t typically respond to immune-based treatments.
The study is available online in the journal Nature Genetics.
In an analysis of 33 tumor types from the National Cancer Institute’s The Cancer Genome Atlas Program, the researchers identified 1,068 transposable element-derived transcripts — or sections of RNA made by the cancer cells — with the potential to produce tumor antigens that could serve as targets for new immunotherapies.
Researchers determined that these possible tumor antigens were present on the surfaces of cancer cells, making them ideal for targeting with immunotherapies. Importantly, they found that almost 98% of the more than 10,000 tumors analyzed had at least one potential antigen target arising from a transposable element. Most tumors had from two to 75 possible antigens.
In another important finding, the researchers showed that many of the candidate proteins that could serve as antigens were present in multiple tumors and, in some cases, across tumor types.
