# The Cancer Epitope Trees of 23 Early Cervical Cancers in Chinese Women

## TL;DR

This study explores cervical cancer mutations in Chinese women to identify optimal immunotherapy targets using neo-epitope trees.

## Contribution

The study introduces the concept of 'cancer neo-epitope trees' to identify shared therapeutic targets in cervical cancer.

## Key findings

- Each tumor had an average of 117 mutations and 61 neo-epitopes.
- Tumors displayed unique phylogenetic and neo-epitope trees.
- Shared neo-epitopes at the top of the tree are potential optimal targets for immunotherapy.

## Abstract

Emerging evidences suggest the heterogeneity of cancers limits the efficacy of immunotherapy. To search for optimal therapeutic targets, we used whole-exome sequencing data from 23 early cervical tumors from Chinese women to investigate the hierarchical structure of the somatic mutations and the predicted neo-epitopes based on their strong binding with major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. We found each tumor carried 117 mutations and 61 neo-epitopes in average and displayed a unique phylogenic tree and “cancer neo-epitope tree” comprising different compositions of mutations or neo-epitopes. Conceivably, the neo-epitopes at the top of the tree shared by all cancer cells are the optimal therapeutic targets that might lead to a cure. Human papillomavirus can be used as therapeutic target in only a proportion of cases where the integrated genome exits without active infection. Therefore, the “cancer neo-epitope tree” will serve as an important source to determine of the optimal immunotherapeutic target.