A microbial-based cancer vaccine for induction of EGFRvIII-specific CD8+ T cells and anti-tumor immunity.
Lauren ZebertavageShelly BambinaJessica ShugartAlejandro AliceKyra D ZensPeter LauerBill HansonMichael J GoughMarka R CrittendenKeith S BahjatPublished in: PloS one (2019)
Dysregulated signaling via the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-family is believed to contribute to the progression of a diverse array of cancers. The most common variant of EGFR is EGFRvIII, which results from a consistent and tumor-specific in-frame deletion of exons 2-7 of the EGFR gene. This deletion generates a novel glycine at the junction and leads to constitutive ligand-independent activity. This junction forms a novel shared tumor neo-antigen with demonstrated immunogenicity in both mice and humans. A 21-amino acid peptide spanning the junctional region was selected, and then one or five copies of this 21-AA neo-peptide were incorporated into live-attenuated Listeria monocytogenes-based vaccine vector. These vaccine candidates demonstrated efficient secretion of the recombinant protein and potent induction of EGFRvIII-specific CD8+ T cells, which prevented growth of an EGFRvIII-expressing squamous cell carcinoma. These data demonstrate the potency of a novel cancer-specific vaccine candidate that can elicit EGFRvIII-specific cellular immunity, for the purpose of targeting EGFRvIII positive cancers that are resistant to conventional therapies.
Keyphrases
- epidermal growth factor receptor
- tyrosine kinase
- small cell lung cancer
- squamous cell carcinoma
- amino acid
- advanced non small cell lung cancer
- papillary thyroid
- listeria monocytogenes
- high resolution
- young adults
- machine learning
- transcription factor
- microbial community
- copy number
- skeletal muscle
- type diabetes
- small molecule
- childhood cancer
- mass spectrometry
- insulin resistance
- high density
- data analysis
- binding protein