Samson Mani

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has achieved remarkable clinical success in hematologic malignancies but remains largely ineffective in solid tumors due to antigen heterogeneity, immune evasion, and dose-limiting toxicities. A central challenge is the identification of optimal target antigens that balance tumor specificity with therapeutic efficacy. In this review, we define the emerging antigenic landscape for CAR T-cell therapy in solid tumors through integrative curation and systems-level analysis. We reviewed 58 candidate targets spanning tumor-associated surface molecules, stromal and angiogenic components, immune checkpoints, and regulatory signaling nodes. Pathway enrichment reveals convergence on key oncogenic and immune regulatory circuits, including cell adhesion, receptor tyrosine kinase signaling, and PD-1/PD-L1 mediated immune suppression, underscoring their roles in tumor progression and immune escape. Notably, most prioritized targets localize to the plasma membrane and cell-cell interfaces, reinforcing their accessibility for CAR-based interventions. We further highlight advances in multi-antigen targeting, logic-gated CAR designs, and engineered resistance to immunosuppressive cues that collectively address tumor heterogeneity and functional exhaustion. By integrating antigen biology with emerging engineering strategies, this review provides a conceptual framework for rational target selection and combinatorial design. These insights advance the development of next-generation CAR T-cell therapies with improved precision and durability against solid tumors.

1. It is believed that ribonucleic acid (RNA) predated DNA and proteins in the process of evolution.[1] The RNA world hypothesis indicates that the first living material on earth was either RNA or ...

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a less common hematological malignancy in Indian people. It accounts for less than 5% of all leukemias. Information on genomic alteration in CLL is limited immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable region (IGHV) mutational status is considered the most reliable prognostic marker. In this study, we performed mutation analysis of significantly mutated genes of CLL and correlated them with the IGHV mutational status and cytogenetic alterations. We included 97 patients in this study; 36 were IGHV hypermutated, and 61 were IGHV unmutated. We observed frequent mutations in TP53 (16.4%), ATM (19.5%), SF3B1 (18.5%), and NOTCH1 (14.2%). NOTCH1 mutations were significantly observed in patients with unmutated IGHV. We observed that patients with no mutations in ATM, NOTCH1, or TP53 had chromosomal alterations (del 11q, del 13q, del 17q, and trisomy 21) identified by FISH. Our results have shown mutations in essential genes and their association with IGHV status. Overall, specific gene mutations, IGHV status, and chromosomal alterations can provide information on prognosis.

Background:: Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in women. Early diagnosis offers the best hope for a cure. Ductal carcinoma in situ is considered a precursor of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. In this study, we carried out microRNA sequencing from 7 ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), 6 infiltrating ductal carcinomas (IDC Stage IIA) with paired normal, and 5 unpaired normal breast tissue samples. We identified 76 miRNAs that were differentially expressed in DCIS and IDC. Methods:: Additionally, we provide preliminary evidence of miR-365b-3p and miR-7-1-3p being overexpressed, and miR-6507-5p, miR-487b-3p, and miR-654-3p being downregulated in DCIS relative to normal breast tissue. We also identified a miRNA miR-766-3p that was overexpressed in early-stage IDCs. The overexpression of miR-301a-3p in DCIS and IDC was confirmed in 32 independent breast cancer tissue samples. Results:: Higher expression of miR-301a-3p is associated with poor overall survival in The Can-cer Genome Atlas Breast Cancer (TCGA-BRCA) dataset, indicating that it may be associated with DCIS at high risk of progressing to IDC and warrants deeper investigation. Conclusion:: We also analyzed competing endogenous networks associated with differentially expressed miRNAs and identified LRRC75A-AS1 and MAGI2-AS3 as lncRNAs that potentially play an important role in early-stage breast cancers.

Background N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a prevalent and crucial RNA methylation modification that plays a significant role in various biological and pathological processes. The dysregulation of m6A has been linked to the initiation, progression, and metastasis of several cancer types, including colon cancer. The transcriptome of colon cancer indeed provides insight into dysregulated coding and non-coding RNAs, but it does not reveal the mechanisms, such as m6A modifications, that determine post-transcriptional and pre-translational regulations. This study using MeRIP sequencing aims to explain the distribution of m6A modification across altered gene expression and its association with colon cancer. Methods and results The levels of m6A in different colon cancer cell lines were quantified and correlated with the expression of m6A modifiers such as writers, readers, and erasers. Our results showed that global m6A levels in colon cancer were associated with METTL14, YTHDF2, and YTHDC1. We performed Epi-transcriptome profiling of m6A in colon cancer cell lines using Methylated RNA Immunoprecipitation (MeRIP) sequencing. The differential methylation analysis revealed 7312 m6A regions among the colon cancer cell lines. Our findings indicated that the m6A RNA methylation modifications were mainly distributed in the last exonic and 3′ untranslated regions. We also discovered that non-coding RNAs such as miRNA, lncRNA, and circRNA carry m6A marks. Gene set enrichment and motif analysis suggested a strong association of m6A with post-transcriptional events, particularly splicing control. Overall, our study sheds light on the potential role of m6A in colon cancer and highlights the importance of further investigation in this area. Conclusion This study reports m6A enrichment in the last exonic regions and 3′ UTRs of mRNA transcripts in colon cancer. METTL14, YTHDF2, and YTHDC1 were the most significant modifiers in colon cancer cells. The functions of m6A-modified genes were found to be RNA methylation and RNA capping. Overall, the study illustrates the transcriptome-wide distribution of m6A and its eminent role in mRNA splicing and translation control of colon cancer.

An imbalance in DNA methylation is a hallmark epigenetic alteration in cancer. The conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine (5-hmC), which causes the imbalance, results in aberrant gene expression. The precise functional role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in breast cancer remains elusive. In this study, we describe the landscape of 5-mC and 5-hmC and their association with breast cancer development. We found a distinguishable global loss of 5-hmC in the localized and invasive types of breast cancer that strongly correlate with TET expression. Genome-wide analysis revealed a unique 5-mC and 5-hmC signature in breast cancer. The differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were primarily concentrated in the proximal regulatory regions such as the promoters and UTRs, while the differentially hydroxymethylated regions (DhMRs) were densely packed in the distal regulatory regions, such as the intergenic regions (>−5 kb from TSSs). Our results indicate 4809 DMRs and 4841 DhMRs associated with breast cancer. Validation of nine 5-hmC enriched loci in a distinct set of breast cancer and normal samples positively correlated with their corresponding gene expression. The novel 5-hmC candidates such as TXNL1, and CNIH3 implicate a pro-oncogenic role in breast cancer. Overall, these results provide new insights into the loci-specific accumulation of 5-mC and 5-hmC, which are aberrantly methylated and demethylated in breast cancer.

Cytosine methylation adjacent to adenine, thymine, and cytosine residues but not guanine of the DNA is distinctively known as non-CpG methylation. This CA/CT/CC methylation accounts for 15% of the total cytosine methylation and varies among different cell and tissue types. The abundance of CpG methylation has largely concealed the role of non-CpG methylation. Limitations in the early detection methods could not distinguish CpG methylation from non-CpG methylation. Recent advancements in enrichment strategies and high throughput sequencing technologies have enabled the detection of non-CpG methylation. This review discusses the advanced experimental and computational approaches to detect and describe the genomic distribution and function of non-CpG methylation. We present different approaches such as enzyme-based and antibody-based enrichment, which, when coupled, can also improve the sensitivity and specificity of non-CpG detection. We also describe the current bioinformatics pipelines and their specific application in computing and visualizing the imbalance of CpG and non-CpG methylation. Enrichment modes and the computational suites need to be further developed to ease the challenges of understanding the functional role of non-CpG methylation.

Background: An imbalance in DNA methylation is a hallmark epigenetic alteration in cancer. The conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethyl cytosine (5-hmC), which causes the imbalance, results in aberrant gene expression. The precise functional role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in breast cancer remains elusive. In this study, we describe the landscape of 5-mC and 5-hmC and their association with breast cancer development. Results: We found a distinguishable global loss of 5-hmC in the localized and invasive types of breast cancer, which correlate strongly with TET expression. Genome-wide analysis revealed a unique 5-mC and 5-hmC signature in breast cancer. The differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were primarily concentrated in the proximal regulatory regions such as the promoters and UTRs, while the differentially hydroxymethylated regions (DhMRs) were densely packed in the distal regulatory regions such as the intergenic regions (>-5 kb from TSSs). Our results indicate 4809 DMRs and 4841 DhMRs associated with breast cancer. Validation of nine 5-hmC enriched loci in a distinct set of breast cancer and normal samples, positively correlated with their corresponding gene expression. The novel 5-hmC candidates such as TXNL1, CNIH3 , and BNIPL implicate a pro-oncogenic role in breast cancer. Therefore, 5-hmC modified regions could be used as promising diagnostic and therapeutic markers for breast cancer. Conclusion: Global loss of 5-hmC is associated with down-regulation of the TET 1 and TET3 genes. Genome-wide profiling has revealed a profound imbalance in the region-specific distribution of 5-mC and 5-hmC in breast cancer. Predominant 5-hmC modifications are localized at distal gene regulatory sites. Novel 5-hmC candidates associated with breast cancer have been identified. Hence, these results provide new insights in the loci-specific accumulation of 5-mC and 5-hmC which are aberrantly methylated and demethylated in breast cancer.

Background The heterogeneity of breast tumors presents a challenge in disease management, necessitating an understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving breast tumorigenesis. Aberrant expression of microRNAs is known to promote tumor growth and progression. Our previous RNA-sequencing dataset revealed the upregulation of miR-362-5p and miR-454-3p in breast tumors. We investigated potential role of miR-362-5p and miR-454-3p in breast cancer using MDAMB231 and MCF7 cell lines. Methods and results The expression of miR-362-5p and miR-454-3p were altered in MCF7 and MDAMB231 using mimics and inhibitors. The effect on cell viability, cell cycle progression and migration was assessed using Alamar blue assay, flow cytometry and wound healing assay. Further, the expression of potential target genes were measured using real-time PCR. Our results indicated that an increased expression of miR-362-5p promoted cell growth and survival in MCF7, but decreased cell migration. In contrast, miR-362-5p overexpression reduced cancer cell growth, survival and migration in MDAMB231. Overexpression of miR-454-3p was oncogenic in both cell lines but suppressed migration in the aggressive cell line MDAMB231. Conclusion Two microRNAs, miR-362-5p and miR-454-3p, were evaluated for functional activity in breast cancer cell lines and they showed increased proliferative signals and tumorigenic properties.