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Stage III–IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a devastating disease characterized by a poor prognosis. NSCLC tumors carry genetic mutations, which can lead to the expression of altered protein sequences. Peptides originating from mutated proteins and bound to MHC molecules on the tumor cell surface are referred to as neoantigens, as they are tumor-specific and not expressed in normal cells. Due to their tumor specificity, neoantigens have a strong potential to induce an anti-tumor immune response and have been investigated for development of personalized therapeutic cancer vaccines. The current study describes the development of a clinical grade neoantigen vaccine formulation (FRAME-001) intended as immunotherapy in advanced NSCLC in combination with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab. The detection of aberrant tumor-specific transcripts as well as an algorithm to select immunogenic neoantigen peptides are described. Subsequently, selected neoantigen peptides were synthesized with a high throughput synthesis platform and aseptically formulated under good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions into four aqueous peptides mixtures that each contained six neoantigen peptides. A validated stability-indicating analytical method was developed in which we considered the personalized nature of the formulation. An extensive stability study performed either at −25 °C or −80 °C showed that the formulation was stable for up to 32 weeks. The formulation was mixed with the vaccine adjuvant Montanide ISA 51 VG, which yielded the final vaccine emulsion. The stability of the vaccine emulsion was demonstrated using microscopic examination, differential light scattering, and the water-drop test. The presented data show that FRAME-001 is a feasible personalized vaccine formulation for the treatment of stage III–IV NSCLC. The presented data may give guidance in the development of novel personalized therapeutic vaccines since this formulation strategy could be used for any cancer indication.

The INT Galactic Plane Survey (IGAPS) is the merger of the optical photometric surveys, IPHAS and UVEX, based on data from the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) obtained between 2003 and 2018. Here, we present the IGAPS point source catalogue. It contains 295.4 million rows providing photometry in the filters, i, r, narrow-band Hα, g, and URGO. The IGAPS footprint fills the Galactic coordinate range, |b| < 5° and 30°ℓ < < 215°. A uniform calibration, referred to as the Pan-STARRS system, is applied to g, r, and i, while the Hα calibration is linked to r and then is reconciled via field overlaps. The astrometry in all five bands has been recalculated in the reference frame of Gaia Data Release 2. Down to i ∼ 20 mag (Vega system), most stars are also detected in g, r, and Hα. As exposures in the r band were obtained in both the IPHAS and UVEX surveys, typically a few years apart, the catalogue includes two distinct r measures, rI and rU. The r 10σ limiting magnitude is approximately 21, with median seeing of 1.1 arcsec. Between approximately 13th and 19th mag in all bands, the photometry is internally reproducible to within 0.02 mag. Stars brighter than r = 19.5 mag are tested for narrow-band Hα excess signalling line emission, and for variation exceeding |rIℓ-ℓ rU| = 0.2 mag. We find and flag 8292 candidate emission line stars and over 53 000 variables (both at > 5σ confidence)., MM, JED and GB acknowledge the support of research grants funded by the Science, Technology and Facilities Council of the UK (STFC, grants ST/M001008/1 and ST/J001333/1). MM was partially supported by the MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy) through grant ESP2016-80079-C2-1-R and RTI2018-095076-B-C21 (MINECO/FEDER, UE), and MDM-2014-0369 of ICCUB (Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu”). RG benefitted from support via STFC grant ST/M001334/1 as a visitor to UCL. PJG acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), in contributing to the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes and through grant 614.000.601. JC acknowldges support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grant AYA2017-83216-P. DJ and PR-G acknowledge support from the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under grant AYA2017-83383-P. RR acknowledges funding by the German Science foundation (DFG) through grants HE1356/71-1 and IR190/1-1. We thank Eugene Magnier for providing support on Pan-STARRS data. This research has made use of the University of Hertfordshire high-performance computing facility (https://uhhpc.herts.ac.uk/) located at the University of Hertfordshire (supported by STFC grants including ST/P000096/1). We thank Martin Hardcastle for his support and expertise in connection with our use of the facility. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www. cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. Much of the analysis presented has been carried out via TopCat and stilts (Taylor et al. 2006). We thank the referee for comments on this paper that have improved its content.

The UV-Excess Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane images a 10x185 degree wide band, centered on the Galactic Equator using the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope in four bands (U,g,r,HeI5875) down to ~21st-22nd magnitude (~20th in HeI5875). The setup and data reduction procedures are described. Simulations of the colours of main-sequence stars, giant, supergiants, DA and DB white dwarfs and AM CVn stars are made, including the effects of reddening. A first look at the data of the survey (currently 30% complete) is given., Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS, 22 pages, 16 figures

We follow the bright, highly energetic afterglow of Swift-discovered GRB 080721 at z=2.591 out to 36 days or 3e6 s since the trigger in the optical and X-ray bands. We do not detect a break in the late-time light curve inferring a limit on the opening angle of theta_j >= 7.3 deg and setting tight constraints on the total energy budget of the burst of E_gamma >= 9.9e51 erg within the fireball model. To obey the fireball model closure relations the GRB jet must be expanding into a homogeneous surrounding medium and likely lies behind a significant column of dust. The energy constraint we derive can be used as observational input for models of the progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts: we discuss how such high collimation-corrected energies could be accommodated with certain parameters of the standard massive star core-collapse models. We can, however, most probably rule out a magnetar progenitor for this GRB which would require 100% efficiency to reach the observed total energy., 11 pages, 6 figures (3 colour), accepted for publication in MNRAS following minor revision of Sections 4.2 and 5