Immunotherapy of Breast Cancer Using Novel Her2/neu-Based Vaccines

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. In U.S., 180,000 new cases are diagnosed and 45,000 deaths occur each year, Current therapy for this disease is aggressive and frequently mulitating. We have been developing a Listeria monocytogenes based Her2/neu vaccine for breast cancer. L. monocytogenes has been successfully used as a vaccine vector and tested in several disease models. To improve our immunotherapeutic approach to breast cancer, we are currently investigating the NY-ESO-l antigen, which is expressed in a large proportion of breast cancers. NY-ESO-l is the most immunogenic member of the Cancer-Testis antigen family. It is now widely accepted that tumors can escape immunotherapies targeting a single antigen by losing expression of that antigen. In this case, association of Her2/neu and NY-ESO-l could provide a more efficient vaccine against breast cancer. In this study, we constructed several NY-ESO-l recombinant-Listeria - monocytogenes. We found that the C-term region of NY-ESO-1, which contains the important HLA-A2/l57-165 epitope, is poorly secreted by Listeria. We are also generating a NT-2 (her2/neu positive) and 4T1-based breast cancer models in the mouse to test our NY-ESO-l and Her2/neu vaccines. These recombinant L. monocytogenes-based vaccines are a potential therapeutic strategy for breast cancer treatment.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA425723

Entities

People

  • Paulo Maciag

Organizations

  • University of Pennsylvania

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Antigen-Presenting Cells
  • Breast Cancer
  • Cancer
  • Cell Line
  • Cells
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Epithelial Cells
  • Immunomodulation
  • Immunotherapy
  • Listeria Monocytogenes
  • Listeriosis
  • Lymphocytes
  • Neoplasms
  • Proteins
  • Therapy
  • Vaccination
  • Vaccines

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Medicine

Readers

  • Immunology
  • Oncology and Biomarker-Based Cancer Detection.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Biotechnology - Cancer Biotech