School of Biomedical Sciences cordially invites you to join the following Post-doctoral Fellow (PDF) Seminar:

Date: 17 December 2024 (Tuesday)
Time: 4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Venue: Seminar Room 1, G/F, Laboratory Block, 21 Sassoon Road
Host: Dr. Haifeng Fu
Light refreshments will be served. Please register via the below link by 16 December 2024 (Monday):
Registration: https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_06qkudBQ6e8puv4

Discovery and validation of non-canonical antigens for hepatocellular carcinoma immunotherapy
Dr. Pak Shun Stephen Li (Post-doctoral Fellow)

[Supervisor: Professor Jason Wong]

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly prevalent and lethal form of liver cancer. HCC tumor recurrence challenges primary treatment options such as surgical resection and liver transplantation. Immunotherapy, which targets tumor-specific antigens by T cells, has emerged as a promising alternative. Although proteogenomics and ribosome profiling data have revealed thousands of antigen repertoires derived from non-canonical open reading frames (ncORFs) across cancer types, antigens derived from HCC-specific ncORFs remain largely unexplored. To this end, we have identified twelve ncORF-derived peptides in HCC cell lines using hybrid transcriptome sequencing and mass spectrometry. One candidate, p2, emerged as a promising immunotherapy target as it displayed tumor-specific expression, cytokine releases, and robust binding interaction affinities toward major histocompatibility complexes and T-cell receptors. Overall, this study has addressed the shortage of HCC immunopeptidomic data and highlighted p2 as a new avenue for improved patient outcomes.

All are welcome.