Doctoral defence: Anneli Samel “Unveiling the characteristics of cancer-testis antigen MAGEA10”

On February 9 at 2:15 p.m., Anneli Samel will defend her doctoral thesis  “Unveiling the characteristics of cancer-testis antigen MAGEA10” 

Supervisor:
Professor Reet Kurg, University of Tartu

Opponent:
Dr. Yegor Vassetzky, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

Summary:
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the modern world and thus a search for more effective and less harmful treatments is constantly ongoing. The therapeutic approaches widely used do not differentiate between cancerous and normal tissues and therefore patients suffer a myriad of side effects. Therapeutic approaches, such as immunotherapy, which specifically target cancer cells are being developed constantly to minimise the possibilities of adverse side effects. An important part of these new treatment options is finding tumour-specific targets, such as cancer-testis antigens (CTA). CTAs are proteins which are not produced in most normal tissues but reemerge in cancer cells. As well as being cancer-specific, CTAs are also able to induce immune responses in patients. These qualities make CTAs perfect candidates for usage as diagnostic markers and immunotherapeutic targets. A well-known group of CTAs is the MAGEA (melanoma-associated antigen A) family. Multiple MAGEA proteins are present in a wide array of cancers and elicit immune responses in patients. This dissertation focuses on the MAGEA10 protein, which is known for evoking very strong immune responses and can therefore be highly useful in cancer immunotherapy. Different regions of MAGEA10 were studied to find out, which parts may be responsible for its many characteristics. It was determined that the sequence directing the protein into the cell nucleus resides within the first 14
amino acid residues and that the first 120 residues are responsible for the fact that MAGEA10’s computational and experimental weights do not align. It was also determined that MAGEA10 and MAGEA4, another family member exit cells via extracellular vesicles (EVs) and strongly attach to the particles’ surface. This suggests that MAGEA proteins are able to interact with the extracellular environment after leaving the cell, implying a possibility for using them in diagnostics. In conclusion, this dissertation helps to understand the characteristics of MAGEA10, so that it could be utilised in cancer diagnostics and treatment.

Defence can be also followed in Zoom: https://ut-ee.zoom.us/j/9530588152?pwd=ZzgzMjY4YytzUkZ5aVRCd2pOdVNQQT09 (Meeting ID: 953 058 8152 Passcode: kaitsmine).