Gene expression analysis of hematological malignancies and healthy (non-)hematopoietic cell types

Cellular immunotherapy has proven to be effective in the treatment of hematological cancers by donor lymphocyte infusion after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and more recently by targeted therapy with chimeric antigen or T-cell receptor-engineered T-cells. However, dependent on the tissue distribution of the antigens that are targeted, anti-tumor responses can be accompanied by undesired side effects. Therefore, detailed tissue distribution analysis is essential to estimate efficacy and toxicity of candidate targets for immunotherapy of hematological malignancies. In this study, we performed microarray gene expression analysis of hematological malignancies of different origins, healthy hematopoietic cells and various non-hematopoietic cell types from organs that are often targeted in detrimental immune responses after allogeneic stem cell transplantation leading to graft-versus-host disease. Non-hematopoietic cells were also cultured in the presence of IFN- to analyze gene expression under inflammatory circumstances. Gene expression was investigated by Illumina HT12.0 microarrays and quality control analysis was performed to confirm the cell-type origin and exclude contamination of non-hematopoietic cell samples with peripheral blood cells. Microarray data were validated by quantitative RT-PCR showing strong correlation between both platforms. Detailed gene expression profiles were generated for various minor histocompatibility antigens and B-cell surface antigens to illustrate the value of the microarray dataset to estimate efficacy and toxicity of candidate targets for immunotherapy. In conclusion, our microarray database provides a relevant platform to analyze and select candidate antigens with hematopoietic (lineage)-restricted expression as potential targets for immunotherapy of hematological cancers.

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Pont MJ, van der Lee DI, van der Meijden ED, van Bergen CA, Kester MG, Honders MW, Vermaat M, Eefting M, Marijt EW, Kielbasa SM, Hoen PA, Falkenburg JH, Griffioen M