Complement and Immunotherapy of Breast Cancer
Abstract
In general, a humoral immune response to breast cancer cells is not therapeutically effective, likely due, at least in part, to the overexpression of membrane bound complement inhibitory proteins on tumor cells. In these studies we proposed to investigate two novel fusion proteins aimed at overcoming complement inhibition of breast cancer cells. The recombinant fusion proteins have been successfully constructed, expressed and purified. The MUC1 vaccination study was completed, showing that C3d does function as a molecular adjuvant. Linking C3d to the tumor antigen MUC1 increased the humoral immune response and elicited a cellular immune response to the tumor. However, the T cell response was not MUC1 specific. CR2Fc has been characterized in vitro showing that it binds to C3 opsonized cells, increases complement activation and tumor cell lysis. CR2Fc has also preliminarily been characterized in vivo showing potential in a therapeutic study. Further experiments will be carried out to show the fusion proteins therapeutic efficacy and ability to modulate the immune response.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA525880
Entities
People
- Michelle Rapisardo
- Stephen Tomlinson
Organizations
- Medical University of South Carolina