Chimeric papillomavirus virus-like particles induce a murine self-antigen-specific protective and therapeutic antitumor immune response

✍ Scribed by John D. Nieland; Diane M. Da Silva; Markwin P. Velders; Karin E. de Visser; John T. Schiller; Martin Müller; W. Martin Kast

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 72 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4644(19990501)73:2<145::aid-jcb1>3.0.co;2-5

✦ Synopsis

The use of chimeric virus-like particles represents a new strategy for delivering tumor antigens to the immune system for the initiation of antitumor immune responses. Immunization of DBA/2 mice with the P1A peptide derived from the P815 tumor-associated antigen P1A induced specific T-cell tolerance, resulting in progression of a regressor P815 cell line in all animals. However, immunization with a human papillomavirus type 16 L1 virus-like particle containing the P1A peptide in the absence of adjuvant induced a protective immune response in mice against a lethal tumor challenge with a progressor P815 tumor cell line. Additionally, we demonstrated that these chimeric virus-like particles could be used therapeutically to suppress the growth of established tumors, resulting in a significant survival advantage for chimeric virus-like particle-treated mice compared with untreated control mice. Chimeric virus-like particles can thus be used as a universal delivery vehicle for both tolerizing and antigenic peptides to induce a strong protective and therapeutic antigen-specific antitumor immune response.