Human Ad19a/64 HERV-W Vaccines Uncover Immunosuppression Domain-Dependent T-Cell Response Differences in Inbred Mice.
Isabella SkandorffEmeline RagonnaudJasmin GilleAnne-Marie AnderssonSilke SchrödelLara DuvnjakLouise TurnerChristian ThirionRalf WagnerPeter Johannes HolstPublished in: International journal of molecular sciences (2023)
Expression of human endogenous retrovirus type W (HERV-W) has been linked to cancer, making HERV-W antigens potential targets for therapeutic cancer vaccines. In a previous study, we effectively treated established tumours in mice by using adenoviral-vectored vaccines targeting the murine endogenous retrovirus envelope and group-specific antigen (Gag) of melanoma-associated retrovirus (MelARV) in combination with anti-PD-1. To break the immunological tolerance to MelARV, we mutated the immunosuppressive domain (ISD) of the MelARV envelope. However, reports on the immunogenicity of the HERV-W envelope, Syncytin-1, and its ISD are conflicting. To identify the most effective HERV-W cancer vaccine candidate, we evaluated the immunogenicity of vaccines encoding either the wild-type or mutated HERV-W envelope ISD in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that the wild-type HERV-W vaccine generated higher activation of murine antigen-presenting cells and higher specific T-cell responses than the ISD-mutated counterpart. We also found that the wild-type HERV-W vaccine was sufficient to increase the probability of survival in mice subjected to HERV-W envelope-expressing tumours compared to a control vaccine. These findings provide the foundation for developing a therapeutic cancer vaccine targeting HERV-W-positive cancers in humans.
Keyphrases
- wild type
- papillary thyroid
- squamous cell
- endothelial cells
- lymph node metastasis
- childhood cancer
- poor prognosis
- immune response
- emergency department
- high fat diet induced
- young adults
- cancer therapy
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- drug delivery
- insulin resistance
- induced apoptosis
- long non coding rna
- skeletal muscle
- adipose tissue
- basal cell carcinoma