Discovery of actionable tumor antigens presented by MHC I molecules

Claude Perreault, MD
Professor, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal
Principal investigator, Institut de recherche en immunologie et cancérologie (IRIC)

This conference is organized by Hua Gu. It is part of the 2021-2022 IRCM conference calendar.

Zoom Link : https://zoom.us/j/95269762104
ID : 952 6976 2104
Code : 476372

About the conference:
Most spontaneous and therapeutically induced immune responses against cancer are mediated primarily by CD8 T cells. CD8 T cells scrutinize the integrity of the protein-coding genome by scanning the ensemble of MHC class I-associated peptides (MAPs) which collectively constitute the immunopeptidome. In this presentation, I will discuss the molecular nature of the MAPs that can elicit clinically relevant anti-tumor responses in humans. I will share my perspective on common misconceptions on tumor antigens' nature and emphasize the crucial role of mass spectrometry in tumor antigen discovery and validation. Furthermore, I will present evidence that the most attractive tumor antigens are unmutated MAPs created by cancer-specific epigenetic changes and splicing aberrations. Finally, I will discuss the potential and limitations of current methods for assessing the immunogenicity of tumor antigens.

About Claude Perreault:
Dr. Claude Perreault is a professor at the Department of Medicine of the Université de Montréal. Trained as a hematologist and an immunogeneticist, he founded the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit and the Histocompatibility Laboratory at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital. Now a principal investigator at the Institut de recherche en immunologie et en cancérologie (IRIC), where he leads the Immunobiology Research Unit, his work uses a combination of genomics, bio-informatics and proteomics to identify and characterize tumor-specific antigens. These studies are supported by grants from CIHR, from the Canadian Cancer Society, the Quebec Consortium on Drug Discovery, and several other agencies. Dr. Perreault is an eminent scientist whose contributions to science have been published in prestigious journals, such as Science and Immunity, and have received the highest distinctions. Notably, in 2020, his team was awarded the Discovery of the year by Quebec Science for their project on a potential therapeutic vaccine against cancer.

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