A novel latent membrane 2 transcript expressed in Epstein-Barr virus-positive NK and T cell lymphoproliferative disease encodes a target for cellular immunotherapy.

Christopher Fox, Tracey Haigh, Graham Taylor, Heather Long, Steven Lee, Claire Shannon-Lowe, S O'Connor, CM Bollard, J Iqbal, WC Chan, Alan Rickinson, Andrew Bell, Martin Rowe

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Therapeutic targeting of virus-encoded proteins using cellular immunotherapy has proved successful for Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV)-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease. However, the more limited repertoire and immunogenicity of EBV-encoded proteins in other malignancies such as Hodgkin lymphoma and extra-nodal NK/T lymphoma has been more challenging to target. The immuno-subdominant latent membrane protein 2 (LMP2) is considered the optimal target in such 'Latency II' tumors, although data relating to its expression in T/NK malignancies are limited. In addressing the validity of LMP2 as an immunotherapeutic target we found that LMP2-specific effector CD8+ T cells recognized and killed EBV-positive NK and T cell tumor lines, despite an apparent absence of LMP2A protein and barely detectable levels of LMP2 transcripts from the conventional LMP2A and LMP2B promoters. We resolved this paradox by identifying in these lines a novel LMP2 mRNA, initiated from within the EBV terminal repeats and containing downstream, epitope-encoding exons. This same mRNA was also highly expressed in primary (extra-nodal) NK/T lymphoma tissue, with virtually undetectable levels of conventional LMP2A/B transcripts. Expression of this novel transcript in T/NK cell lymphoproliferative diseases validates LMP2 as an attractive target for cellular immunotherapy, and implicates this truncated LMP2 protein in NK and T cell lymphomagenesis. This study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00062868.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3695-3704
Number of pages10
JournalBlood
Volume116
Issue number19
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Jul 2010

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