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Improving therapeutic HPV peptide-based vaccine potency by enhancing CD4+ T help and dendritic cell activation

Chao-Yi Wu1, Archana Monie1, Xiaowu Pang5, Chien-Fu Hung1,4 and T-C Wu1,2,3,4*

Author Affiliations

1 Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

3 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

4 Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

5 Department of Oral Diagnostic Service, Howard University, Washington DC, USA

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Journal of Biomedical Science 2010, 17:88 doi:10.1186/1423-0127-17-88

Published: 22 November 2010

Abstract

Background

Effective vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) represents an opportunity to control cervical cancer. Peptide-based vaccines targeting HPV E6 and/or E7 antigens while safe, will most likely require additional strategies to enhance the vaccine potency.

Methods

We tested the HPV-16 E7 peptide-based vaccine in combination with a strategy to enhance CD4+ T help using a Pan HLA-DR epitope (PADRE) peptide and a strategy to enhance dendritic cell activation using the toll-like receptor 3 ligand, poly(I:C).

Results

We observed that mice vaccinated with E7 peptide-based vaccine in combination with PADRE peptide and poly(I:C) generated better E7-specific CD8+ T cell immune responses as well as significantly improved therapeutic anti-tumor effects against TC-1 tumors compared to E7 peptide-based vaccine with either PADRE peptide or poly(I:C) alone. Furthermore, we found that intratumoral vaccination with the E7 peptide in conjunction with PADRE peptide and poly(I:C) generates a significantly higher frequency of E7-specific CD8+ T cells as well as better survival compared to subcutaneous vaccination with the same regimen in treated mice.

Conclusions

The combination of PADRE peptide and poly(I:C) with antigenic peptide is capable of generating potent antigen-specific CD8+ T cell immune responses and antitumor effects in vaccinated mice. Our study has significant clinical implications for peptide-based vaccination.