N-terminally fusion of Her2/neu to HSP70 decreases efficiency of Her2/neu DNA vaccine

Cell Stress Chaperones. 2010 Sep;15(5):631-8. doi: 10.1007/s12192-010-0175-0. Epub 2010 Mar 12.

Abstract

DNA vaccines consisted of tumor-associated antigen (TAA) are well suited for immunotherapy against tumor. The construct can contain TAA fused to an appropriate molecule (biologic adjuvant) to improve the efficacy of anti-tumor immune response. Heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) has been shown to be an excellent candidate, capable of cross-priming TAA by antigen presenting cells leading to a robust T-cell response. However, the relationship between strong T-cell responses and tumor rejection is not always mutually exclusive, for which TAA loss or activation of suppressive mechanisms may occur. HSP70 fused to downstream of Her2/neu as DNA vaccine has been shown to be efficient against Her2-expressing tumors. In this study, we examined if N-terminally fusion of Her2/neu to HSP70 could also improve efficiency of Her2/neu DNA vaccine. Therefore, mice with an established Her2/neu expressing tumor were immunized with DNA vaccine consisting of extracellular and trans-membrane domain (EC+TM) of rat Her2/neu alone or N-terminally fused to HSP70 and immune response was evaluated. Administration of rat Her2/neu led to partial control of tumor progression. Surprisingly, fusion of HSP70 to N-terminal of rat Her2/neu led to tumor progression. Our result proposes that fusion direction of biologic adjuvant is an important consideration when Her2/neu is used.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / genetics
  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / immunology*
  • Interferon-gamma / immunology
  • Interleukin-4 / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / genetics
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / immunology*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / immunology*
  • Vaccines, DNA / genetics
  • Vaccines, DNA / immunology*

Substances

  • HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Vaccines, DNA
  • Interleukin-4
  • Interferon-gamma
  • Receptor, ErbB-2