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Optional Downstream Analysis Tools

Generate Aggregated Report

usage: pvacbind generate_aggregated_report [-h] [-b BINDING_THRESHOLD]
                                           [--allele-specific-binding-thresholds]
                                           [--percentile-threshold PERCENTILE_THRESHOLD]
                                           [--aggregate-inclusion-binding-threshold AGGREGATE_INCLUSION_BINDING_THRESHOLD]
                                           [-m {lowest,median}]
                                           input_file output_file

Generate an aggregated report from a pVACbind .all_epitopes.tsv report file.

positional arguments:
  input_file            A pVACbind .all_epitopes.tsv report file
  output_file           The file path to write the aggregated report tsv to

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -b BINDING_THRESHOLD, --binding-threshold BINDING_THRESHOLD
                        Tier epitopes in the "Pass" tier when the mutant
                        allele has ic50 binding scores below this value and in
                        the "Relaxed" tier when the mutant allele has ic50
                        binding scores below double this value. (default: 500)
  --allele-specific-binding-thresholds
                        Use allele-specific binding thresholds. To print the
                        allele-specific binding thresholds run `pvacbind
                        allele_specific_cutoffs`. If an allele does not have a
                        special threshold value, the `--binding-threshold`
                        value will be used. (default: False)
  --percentile-threshold PERCENTILE_THRESHOLD
                        When set, tier epitopes in the "Pass" tier when the
                        mutant allele has percentile scores below this value
                        and in the "Relaxed" tier when the mutant allele has
                        percentile scores below double this value. (default:
                        None)
  --aggregate-inclusion-binding-threshold AGGREGATE_INCLUSION_BINDING_THRESHOLD
                        Threshold for including epitopes when creating the
                        aggregate report (default: 5000)
  -m {lowest,median}, --top-score-metric {lowest,median}
                        The ic50 scoring metric to use when filtering epitopes
                        by binding-threshold or minimum fold change. lowest:
                        Use the best MT Score and Corresponding Fold Change
                        (i.e. the lowest MT ic50 binding score and
                        corresponding fold change of all chosen prediction
                        methods). median: Use the median MT Score and Median
                        Fold Change (i.e. the median MT ic50 binding score and
                        fold change of all chosen prediction methods).
                        (default: median)

This tool produces an aggregated version of the all_epitopes TSV. It finds the best-scoring (lowest binding affinity) epitope for each variant, and outputs additional binding affinity for that epitope. It also gives information about the total number of well-scoring epitopes for each variant, as well as the HLA alleles that those epitopes are well-binding to. For a full overview of the output, see the pVACbind output file documentation.

Calculate Reference Proteome Similarity

usage: pvacbind calculate_reference_proteome_similarity [-h]
                                                        [--match-length MATCH_LENGTH]
                                                        [--species SPECIES]
                                                        [--blastp-path BLASTP_PATH]
                                                        [--blastp-db {refseq_select_prot,refseq_protein}]
                                                        [--peptide-fasta PEPTIDE_FASTA]
                                                        [-t N_THREADS]
                                                        input_file input_fasta
                                                        output_file

Identify which epitopes in a pVACseq|pVACfuse|pVACbind report file have
matches in the reference proteome using either BLASTp or a checking directly
against a reference proteome FASTA.

positional arguments:
  input_file            Input filtered, all_epitopes, or aggregated report
                        file with predicted epitopes.
  input_fasta           For pVACbind, the original input FASTA file. For
                        pVACseq and pVACfuse a FASTA file with mutant peptide
                        sequences for each variant isoform. This file can be
                        found in the same directory as the input
                        filtered.tsv/all_epitopes.tsv file. Can also be
                        generated by running `pvacseq|pvacfuse
                        generate_protein_fasta`.
  output_file           Output TSV filename of report file with epitopes with
                        reference matches marked.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --match-length MATCH_LENGTH
                        The minimum number of consecutive amino acids that
                        need to match. (default: 8)
  --species SPECIES     The species of the data in the input file. (default:
                        human)
  --blastp-path BLASTP_PATH
                        Blastp installation path. (default: None)
  --blastp-db {refseq_select_prot,refseq_protein}
                        The blastp database to use. (default:
                        refseq_select_prot)
  --peptide-fasta PEPTIDE_FASTA
                        A reference peptide FASTA file to use for finding
                        reference matches instead of blastp. (default: None)
  -t N_THREADS, --n-threads N_THREADS
                        Number of threads to use for parallelizing BLAST
                        calls. (default: 1)

This tool will Blast peptides against the relative reference proteome and return the results in an output TSV & reference_match file pair, given a pVACbind run’s fasta and filtered/all_epitopes TSV. Typically, this can be done as part of the pVACbind run pipeline for the filtered output TSV if specified. This tool, however, provides a standalone way to run this on pVACbind’s generated filtered/all_epitopes TSV files. For instance, this may be desired if pvacbind was originally run without this specified and one wished to perform this additional step after the fact for the filtered TSV—or perhaps instead the results of this were desired for the all_epitopes TSV which does not have this step performed. For a closer look at the generated reference_match file, see the pVACbind output file documentation.

NetChop Predict Cleavage Sites

usage: pvacbind net_chop [-h] [--method {cterm,20s}] [--threshold THRESHOLD]
                         input_file input_fasta output_file

Predict cleavage sites for neoepitopes.

positional arguments:
  input_file            Input filtered file with predicted epitopes.
  input_fasta           The required fasta file.
  output_file           Output tsv filename for putative neoepitopes.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --method {cterm,20s}  NetChop prediction method to use ("cterm" for C term
                        3.0, "20s" for 20S 3.0). (default: cterm)
  --threshold THRESHOLD
                        NetChop prediction threshold. (default: 0.5)

This tool uses NetChop to predict cleavage sites for neoepitopes from a pVACbind run’s filtered/all_epitopes TSV. In its output, it adds to the TSV 3 columns: Best Cleavage Position, Best Cleavage Score, and a Cleavage Sites list. Typically this step is done in the pVACbind run pipeline for the filtered output TSV when specified. This tool provides a way to manually run this on pVACbind’s generated filtered/all_epitopes TSV files so that you can add this information when not present if desired. You can view more about these columns for pVACbind in the output file documentation.

NetMHCStab Predict Stability

usage: pvacbind netmhc_stab [-h] [-m {lowest,median}] input_file output_file

Add stability predictions to predicted neoepitopes.

positional arguments:
  input_file            Input filtered file with predicted epitopes.
  output_file           Output TSV filename for putative neoepitopes.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -m {lowest,median}, --top-score-metric {lowest,median}
                        The ic50 scoring metric to use when sorting epitopes.
                        lowest: Use the best MT Score and Corresponding Fold
                        Change (i.e. the lowest MT ic50 binding score and
                        corresponding fold change of all chosen prediction
                        methods). median: Use the median MT Score and Median
                        Fold Change (i.e. the median MT ic50 binding score and
                        fold change of all chosen prediction methods).
                        (default: median)

This tool uses NetMHCstabpan to add stability predictions for neoepitopes from a pVACbind run’s filtered/all_epitopes TSV. In its output, it adds to the TSV 4 columns: Predicted Stability, Half Life, Stability Rank, and NetMHCStab Allele. Typically this step is done in the pVACbind run pipeline for the filtered output TSV when specified. This tool provides a way to manually run this on pVACbind’s generated filtered/all_epitopes TSV files so that you can add this information when not present if desired. You can view more about these columns for pVACbind in the output file documentation.

Identify Problematic Amino Acids

usage: pvacbind identify_problematic_amino_acids [-h]
                                                 [--filter-type {soft,hard}]
                                                 input_file output_file
                                                 problematic_amino_acids

Mark problematic amino acid positions in each epitope or filter entries that have problematic amino acids.

positional arguments:
  input_file            Input filtered or all_epitopes file with predicted epitopes.
  output_file           Output .tsv file with identification of problematic amino acids or hard-filtered to remove epitopes with problematic amino acids.
  problematic_amino_acids
                        A list of amino acids to consider as problematic. Each entry can be specified in the following format:
                        `amino_acid(s)`: One or more one-letter amino acid codes. Any occurrence of this amino acid string,
                                         regardless of the position in the epitope, is problematic. When specifying more than
                                         one amino acid, they will need to occur together in the specified order.
                        `amino_acid:position`: A one letter amino acid code, followed by a colon separator, followed by a positive
                                               integer position (one-based). The occurrence of this amino acid at the position
                                               specified is problematic., E.g. G:2 would check for a Glycine at the second position
                                               of the epitope. The N-terminus is defined as position 1.
                        `amino_acid:-position`: A one letter amino acid code, followed by a colon separator, followed by a negative
                                                integer position. The occurrence of this amino acid at the specified position from
                                                the end of the epitope is problematic. E.g., G:-3 would check for a Glycine at the
                                                third position from the end of the epitope. The C-terminus is defined as position -1.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --filter-type {soft,hard}, -f {soft,hard}
                        Set the type of filtering done. Choosing `soft` will add a new column "Problematic Positions" that lists positions in the epitope with problematic amino acids. Choosing `hard` will remove epitope entries with problematic amino acids.

This tool is used to identify positions in an epitope with an amino acid that is problematic for downstream processing, e.g. vaccine manufacturing. Since this can differ from case to case, this tool requires the user to specify which amino acid(s) to consider problematic. This can be specified in one of three formats:

amino_acid(s)

One or more one-letter amino acid codes. Any occurrence of this amino acid string, regardless of the position in the epitope, is problematic. When specifying more than one amino acid, they will need to occur together in the specified order.

amino_acid:position

A one letter amino acid code, followed by a colon separator, followed by a positive integer position (one-based). The occurrence of this amino acid at the position specified is problematic., E.g. G:2 would check for a Glycine at the second position of the epitope. The N-terminus is defined as position 1.

amino_acid:-position

A one letter amino acid code, followed by a colon separator, followed by a negative integer position. The occurrence of this amino acid at the specified position from the end of the epitope is problematic. E.g., G:-3 would check for a Glycine at the third position from the end of the epitope. The C-terminus is defined as position -1.

You may specify any number of these problematic amino acid(s), in any combination, by providing them as a comma-separated list.

This tool may be used with any filtered.tsv or all_epitopes.tsv pVACbind report file.