Tumor cells immunogenicity enhancement

As described above, most efforts in the development of efficient strategies for presentation of these carbohydrate antigens to the immune system have traditionally relied on the use of a carrier protein, such as KLH, and a potent immunoadjuvant such as QS-21, to enhance the T-cell response. However, more recently, in order to produce substantial levels of both IgM and IgG antibodies capable of reacting with tumor cell lines, increased attention has been drawn to the development of approaches to induce T-cell dependent immunogenic pathways, which either obviate or supplement standard carrier protein-based approaches. 

CTL induction experiments consistently demonstrate that IRIV indeed enhance induction of HLA class I-restricted CTL specific for IMsg-ee and Melan-A/Mart-127-35 epitopes. CTL induction in presence of irradiated or nonirradiated CD4+ cells showed that IRIV CTL adjuvance requires CD4+ T-cell activation. Remarkably, IRIV CTL adjuvance observed in our in vitro studies is solely due to IRIV immunogenicity and independent of peptide delivery and protection capacities, as peptides were not encapsulated in nor attached to IRIV. Further studies are warranted to clarify whether and to what extent delivery, protection, and immunogenic capacities of IRIV synergize in CTL adjuvance. The fact that IRIV adjuvance was observed in relation to the tumor-associated epitope Melan-A/Mart-127-35 encourages further evaluation of IRIV as potential adjuvants in cancer... 

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