Bone marrow (BM) serves as a reservoir for a unique population of memory T cells with strong effector properties that make them ideal targets for cancer immunotherapy strategies. However, direct vaccination and priming of T cells within the BM of the host has never been investigated. This study evaluates the specific immune response induced via a new method of direct intra-bone marrow (IBM) vaccination in an animal model of human papillomavirus-associated cancer. We found that IBM vaccinations with the class I HPV-16 E7 epitope induce large numbers of activated, IFN-γ-producing E7-specific lymphocytes in the BM. In prophylactic tumor challenge experiments, direct intra-BM vaccination was found to be protective against tumor formation for 80% of the mice. In the therapeutic setting, IBM vaccination induced tumor regression in 3 of 10 vaccinated mice and delayed tumor growth in the remaining animals. Finally, adoptive transfer of BM cells from IBM vaccinated mice to naïve animals conferred complete protection against tumor growth. These data demonstrate the capacity of direct IBM vaccination to induce potent antigen-specific immunity resulting in protection from tumor growth in an animal model. Specifically targeting BM T cells with vaccines may improve responses to cancer immunotherapy and offer important clinical advantages, especially in the setting of bone marrow malignancies.
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