Adoptive
cell therapy (ACT) with T cells targeting neoantigens can mediate durable responses in patients with metastatic
cancer. Cell
therapies targeting common shared
antigens for epithelial
cancers are not yet broadly available. Here, we report the identification and characterization in one patient of
T-cell receptors (TCRs) recognizing mutated p53 p.R175H, which is shared among a subset of patients with
cancer. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes were screened for recognition of mutated neoantigens in a patient with metastatic
colorectal cancer.
HLA-A*0201-restricted recognition of mutated p53 p.R175H was identified, and the minimal
peptide epitope was HMTEVVRHC. Reactive T cells were isolated by tetramer sorting, and three TCRs were identified. These TCRs mediated recognition of commercially available
ovarian cancer, uterine
carcinoma, and myeloma cell lines, as well as an NIH patient-derived esophageal
adenocarcinoma line that endogenously expressed p53 p.R175H and
HLA-A*0201. They also mediated recognition of p53 p.R175H+ colon, breast, and
leukemia cell lines after transduction with a retrovirus encoding
HLA-A*0201. This work demonstrates that common shared mutated
epitopes such as those found in p53 can elicit immunogenic responses and that the application of ACT may be extended to patients with any
cancer histology that expresses both
HLA-A*0201 and the p53 p.R175H mutation.