Nanoparticles have attracted considerable interest as cancer vaccine delivery vehicles for inducing sufficient CD8 T cell-mediated immune responses to overcome the low immunogenicity of the tumor microenvironment. Our studies described here are the first to examine the effects of clinically-tested human cancer-testis (CT) peptide epitopes within a synthetic nanoparticle. Specifically， we focused on two significant clinical CT targets， the HLA-A2 restricted epitopes of NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-A3， using a viral-mimetic packaging strategy. Our data shows that simultaneous delivery of a NY-ESO-1 epitope (SLLMWITQV) and CpG using the E2 subunit assembly of pyruvate dehydrogenase (E2 nanoparticle)， resulted in a 25... More
Nanoparticles have attracted considerable interest as cancer vaccine delivery vehicles for inducing sufficient CD8 T cell-mediated immune responses to overcome the low immunogenicity of the tumor microenvironment. Our studies described here are the first to examine the effects of clinically-tested human cancer-testis (CT) peptide epitopes within a synthetic nanoparticle. Specifically， we focused on two significant clinical CT targets， the HLA-A2 restricted epitopes of NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-A3， using a viral-mimetic packaging strategy. Our data shows that simultaneous delivery of a NY-ESO-1 epitope (SLLMWITQV) and CpG using the E2 subunit assembly of pyruvate dehydrogenase (E2 nanoparticle)， resulted in a 25-fold increase in specific IFN-γ secretion in HLA-A2 transgenic mice. This translated to a 15-fold increase in lytic activity toward target cancer cells expressing the antigen. Immunization with a MAGE-A3 epitope (FLWGPRALV) delivered with CpG in E2 nanoparticles yielded an increase in specific IFN-γ secretion and cell lysis by 6-fold and 9-fold， respectively. Furthermore， combined delivery of NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-A3 antigens in E2 nanoparticles yielded an additive effect that increased lytic activity towards cells bearing NY-ESO-1 and MAGE-A3. Our investigations demonstrate that formulation of CT antigens within a nanoparticle can significantly enhance antigen-specific cell-mediated responses， and the combination of the two antigens in a vaccine can preserve the increased individual responses that are observed for each antigen alone.
