ArticleClinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research2014
T-cell responses to oncogenic merkel cell polyomavirus proteins distinguish patients with merkel cell carcinoma from healthy donors.
Article in Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reprogramming engineered autologous T cells to overcome resistance in patients with Merkel cell carcinoma.Science translational medicine · 2026Trial
- PD-1 Blockade with Pembrolizumab in Advanced Merkel-Cell Carcinoma.The New England journal of medicine · 2016Trial
- Enhancing the Anticancer Activity of a Carcinoma-Directed Peptide-HLA-I Fusion Protein by Armoring with Mutein IFNα.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The interplay between persistent pathogen infections with tumor microenvironment and immunotherapy in cancer.Cancer medicine · 2024Review
- Review
- Tumor Regression Following Engineered Polyomavirus-Specific T Cell Therapy in Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor-Refractory Merkel Cell Carcinoma.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2024Article
- Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Integrating Epidemiology, Immunology, and Therapeutic Updates.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2024Review
- Tumor Antigens beyond the Human Exome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Merkel cell polyomavirus-specific and CD39Cell reports. Medicine · 2024Article
- T antigen-specific CD8+ T cells associate with PD-1 blockade response in virus-positive Merkel cell carcinoma.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2024Article
- Functional studies of HLA and its role in SARS-CoV-2: Stimulating T cell response and vaccine development.Life sciences · 2023Review
- Shaping the Future of Immunotherapy Targets and Biomarkers in Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Cutaneous Cancers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Insights into anti-tumor immunityFrontiers in immunology · 2023Review
- T-Cell Mediated Immunity in Merkel Cell Carcinoma.Cancers · 2022Review
- Extended T-Cell Epitope Landscape in Merkel Cell Polyomavirus Large T and Small T Oncoproteins Identified Uniquely in Patients with Cancer.The Journal of investigative dermatology · 2022Article
- Development of a therapeutic vaccine targeting Merkel cell polyomavirus capsid protein VP1 against Merkel cell carcinoma.NPJ vaccines · 2021Article
- "Present and future of immunotherapy in Neuroendocrine Tumors".Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2021Review
- T-Cell Responses in Merkel Cell Carcinoma: Implications for Improved Immune Checkpoint Blockade and Other Therapeutic Options.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Merkel Cell Carcinoma from Molecular Pathology to Novel Therapies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- USP22 deficiency in melanoma mediates resistance to T cells through IFNγ-JAK1-STAT1 signal axis.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeMerkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a highly aggressive skin cancer with strong evidence of viral carcinogenesis. The association of MCC with the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) may explain the explicit immunogenicity of MCC. Indeed, MCPyV-encoded proteins are likely targets for cytotoxic immune responses to MCC as they are both foreign to the host and necessary to maintain the oncogenic phenotype. However, to date only a single MCPyV-derived CD8 T-cell epitope has been described, thus impeding specific monitoring of T-cell responses to MCC.
methodTo overcome this limitation, we scanned the MCPyV oncoprotein large T and small T antigens and the virus capsid protein VP1 for potential T-cell epitopes, and tested for MHC class I affinity. We confirmed the relevance of these epitopes using a high-throughput platform for T-cell enrichment and combinatorial encoding of MHC class I multimers.
resultsIn peripheral blood from 38 patients with MCC and 30 healthy donors, we identified 53 MCPyV-directed CD8 T-cell responses against 35 different peptide sequences. Strikingly, T-cell responses against oncoproteins were exclusively present in patients with MCC, but not in healthy donors. We further demonstrate both the processing and presentation of the oncoprotein-derived epitopes, as well as the lytic activity of oncoprotein-specific T cells toward MHC-matched MCC cells. Demonstrating the presence of oncoprotein-specific T cells among tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes further substantiated the relevance of the identified epitopes.
conclusionThese T-cell epitopes represent ideal targets for antigen-specific immune therapy of MCC, and enable tracking and characterization of MCPyV-specific immune responses.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.