This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Tseng, C.-W. Articles by Wu, T-C. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tseng, C.-W. Articles by Wu, T-C.

Pretreatment with Cisplatin Enhances E7-Specific CD8⁺ T-Cell–Mediated Antitumor Immunity Induced by DNA Vaccination

Authors' Affiliations: Departments of ¹ Pathology, ² Obstetrics and Gynecology, ³ Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and ⁴ Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland; ⁵ Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama; ⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical Center, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; and ⁷ Department of Anatomy, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Dongjak-Gu, Seoul, Korea

Requests for reprints: T-C. Wu, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, CRB II Room 309, 1550 Orleans Street, Baltimore, MD 21231. Phone: 410-614-3899; Fax: 443-287-4295; E-mail: wutc{at}jhmi.edu.

Purpose: Because the combination of multiple modalities for cancer treatment is more likely to generate more potent therapeutic effects for the control of cancer, we have explored the combination of chemotherapy using cisplatin, which is routinely used in chemotherapy for advanced cervical cancer, with immunotherapy using DNA vaccines encoding calreticulin (CRT) linked to human papillomavirus type 16 E7 antigen (CRT/E7) in a preclinical model.

Experimental Design: We characterized the combination of cisplatin with CRT/E7 DNA vaccine using different regimen for its potential ability to generate E7-specific CD8⁺ T-cell immune responses as well as antitumor effects against E7-expressing tumors.

Results: Our results indicate that treatment of tumor-bearing mice with chemoimmunotherapy combining cisplatin followed by CRT/E7 DNA generated the highest E7-specific CD8⁺ T-cell immune response and produced the greatest antitumor effects and long-term survival as well as significant levels of E7-specific tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes compared with all the other treatment regimens. Furthermore, we found that treatment with cisplatin leads to the cell-mediated lysis of E7-expressing tumor cells in vitro and increased number of E7-specific CD8⁺ T-cell precursors in tumor-bearing mice. In addition, we observed that E7-specific CD8⁺ T cells migrate to and proliferate in the location of TC-1 tumors in mice treated with cisplatin.

Conclusions: Thus, our data suggest that chemoimmunotherapy using cisplatin followed by CRT/E7 DNA vaccine is an effective treatment against E7-expressing tumors and may potentially be translated into the clinical arena.