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Enhancing DC cancer vaccine by allogeneic MHC class II expression and Treg depletion
Noriko Seishima, William Becker, Purevdorj B. Olkhanud, Hoyoung M. Maeng, Miguel A. Lopez-Lago, William V. Williams, Jay A. Berzofsky
Noriko Seishima, William Becker, Purevdorj B. Olkhanud, Hoyoung M. Maeng, Miguel A. Lopez-Lago, William V. Williams, Jay A. Berzofsky
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Research Article Immunology Oncology

Enhancing DC cancer vaccine by allogeneic MHC class II expression and Treg depletion

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Abstract

We assessed the therapeutic efficacy of a semiallogeneic dendritic cell (DC) vaccine in comparison to a syngeneic one for suppression of B16-F10 and TC-1 tumors. Syngeneic bone marrow–derived DCs (BMDCs) were generated from C57BL/6J mice and semiallogeneic BMDCs with a mutation in either MHC class I or II were generated from B6.C-H2-Kbm1/ByJ or B6(C)-H2-Ab1bm12/KhEgJ mice, respectively. We demonstrated in vivo and in vitro that the MHC class II semiallogeneic BMDC vaccine had superior efficacy over the syngeneic and the MHC class I semiallogeneic BMDC vaccine, providing allogeneic CD4+ T cell help to enhance the antitumor CD8+ T cell response through allogeneic stimulation by the mutant MHC class II molecules. We discovered that this help was induced only at an early stage of tumor growth and at a later stage of tumor growth; combining our BMDC vaccine with Treg depletion enhanced tumor suppression. We demonstrated the improved efficacy of a semiallogeneic BMDC vaccine that kept tumor-peptide presentation intact on syngeneic MHC class I molecules so that mutant MHC class II could provide allogeneic help. This strategy should enable promising new DC-based cancer immunotherapies, offering an alternative to autologous DC vaccines by incorporating allogenicity as an adjuvant.

Authors

Noriko Seishima, William Becker, Purevdorj B. Olkhanud, Hoyoung M. Maeng, Miguel A. Lopez-Lago, William V. Williams, Jay A. Berzofsky

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Figure 5

E743–77-pulsed MHC class II semiallogeneic mature BMDC vaccination is dependent on both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, but CD4+ T cell depletion at a later stage of TC-1 tumor growth enhances the efficacy.

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E743–77-pulsed MHC class II semiallogeneic mature BMDC vaccination is de...
(A–I) WT mice were injected s.c. with 1 × 105 TC-1 tumor cells, and mice were injected intradermally (i.d.) with either of the E743–77-pulsed syngeneic WT or MHC class II semiallogeneic bm12 LPS-matured BMDC (mBMDC) vaccines 5 times starting 8 days after tumor inoculation at 5-day intervals. CD8+ or CD4+ T cells were depleted by i.p. injection of anti-CD4 antibody (clone GK1.5), anti-CD8 antibody (clone 53-6.7), or isotype control antibody (IgG) that started 2 days before the first dose of the BMDC vaccination for early depletion or that started 2 days after the second dose of BMDC vaccination for late depletion, and continued every 2–3 days until end of the study. (A) Experimental scheme, (B–F) average tumor growth of indicated groups, and (G–I) individual tumor growth of each tumor-bearing mouse. (J) Mouse blood was drawn 29 days after TC-1 inoculation in the same mice used in B–F and subjected to flow cytometric analysis of circulating CD8+ and E7/H2Db tetramer+ cells in blood. (K) Survival rate of indicated groups. The median value of each group: PBS, 27 days; WT, 36 days; bm12, 40 days; bm12 + EaCD4, 38 days; bm12 + LaCD4, 48 days. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM and represent 3 independent experiments, n = 4–5 per group. Statistical analysis was performed using 2-way ANOVA over the entirety of the study (B–F), 1-way ANOVA test with post hoc Tukey’s multiple-comparison correction (J), or Kaplan-Meier curves and analyzed by log-rank (K). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001.

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