Immunogenic cryptic peptides dominate the antigenic landscape of ovarian cancer.

ABSTRACT: Increased infiltration of CD3⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells into ovarian cancer (OC) is linked to better prognosis, but the specific antigens involved are unclear. Recent reports suggest that HLA class I can present peptides from noncoding genomic regions, known as noncanonical or cryptic peptides, but their immunogenicity is underexplored. To address this, we used immunopeptidomic analysis and RNA sequencing on five metastatic OC samples, which identified 311 cryptic peptides (40 to 83 per patient). Despite comprising less than 1% of total peptides, cryptic peptides from noncoding transcripts emerged as the predominant antigen class when compared to the other major classes of known tumor-specific and tumor-associated antigens in OC samples. Notably, nearly 70% of the prioritized

SUBMITTER: Raja R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11837991 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature