Immunogenic Cell Death, DAMPs and Prothymosin α as a Putative Anticancer Immune Response Biomarker
Anastasios I. Birmpilis,
Antonios Paschalis,
Apostolis Mourkakis,
Panayiota Christodoulou,
Ioannis V. Kostopoulos,
Elina Antimissari,
Georgia Terzoudi,
Alexandros G. Georgakilas,
Christina Armpilia,
Panagiotis Papageorgis,
Efstathios Kastritis,
Evangelos Terpos,
Meletios A. Dimopoulos,
Hubert Kalbacher,
Evangelia Livaniou,
Maria-Ioanna Christodoulou,
Ourania E. Tsitsilonis
Affiliations
Anastasios I. Birmpilis
Section of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, 15784 Athens, Greece
Antonios Paschalis
Section of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, 15784 Athens, Greece
Apostolis Mourkakis
Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
Panayiota Christodoulou
Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
Ioannis V. Kostopoulos
Section of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, 15784 Athens, Greece
Elina Antimissari
Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
Georgia Terzoudi
Laboratory of Health Physics, Radiobiology & Cytogenetics, Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences and Technology, Energy and Safety, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Agia Paraskevi, 15310 Athens, Greece
Alexandros G. Georgakilas
DNA Damage Laboratory, Physics Department, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, 15780 Zografou, Greece
Christina Armpilia
Medical Physics Unit, 1st Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Aretaieion Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece
Panagiotis Papageorgis
Tumor Microenvironment, Metastasis and Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
Efstathios Kastritis
Department of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece
Evangelos Terpos
Department of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece
Meletios A. Dimopoulos
Department of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11528 Athens, Greece
Hubert Kalbacher
Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
Evangelia Livaniou
Immunopeptide Chemistry Laboratory, Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences and Technology, Energy and Safety, National Centre for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Agia Paraskevi, 15310 Athens, Greece
Maria-Ioanna Christodoulou
Tumor Immunology and Biomarkers Laboratory, Basic and Translational Cancer Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, European University Cyprus, Nicosia 2404, Cyprus
Ourania E. Tsitsilonis
Section of Animal and Human Physiology, Department of Biology, School of Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Ilissia, 15784 Athens, Greece
The new and increasingly studied concept of immunogenic cell death (ICD) revealed a previously unknown perspective of the various regulated cell death (RCD) modalities, elucidating their immunogenic properties and rendering obsolete the notion that immune stimulation is solely the outcome of necrosis. A distinct characteristic of ICD is the release of danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) by dying and/or dead cells. Thus, several members of the DAMP family, such as the well-characterized heat shock proteins (HSPs) HSP70 and HSP90, the high-mobility group box 1 protein and calreticulin, and the thymic polypeptide prothymosin α (proTα) and its immunoreactive fragment proTα(100–109), are being studied as potential diagnostic tools and/or possible therapeutic agents. Here, we present the basic aspects and mechanisms of both ICD and other immunogenic RCD forms; denote the role of DAMPs in ICD; and further exploit the relevance of human proTα and proTα(100–109) in ICD, highlighting their possible clinical applications. Furthermore, we present the preliminary results of our in vitro studies, which show a direct correlation between the concentration of proTα/proTα(100–109) and the levels of cancer cell apoptosis, induced by anticancer agents and γ-radiation.
