title: DNA vaccination for cancer treatment.
abstract: The recent finding that inoculation with plasmids encoding a variety of proteins leads to T cell and antibody responses in vivo against these proteins provides a novel means of active specific immunisation by plasmid vaccination. The demonstration that both major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I- and Class II-mediated interactions can be elicited may make this approach suitable for development of tumour vaccines. Plasmids may prove to be an efficient way to build 'subunit' and multi-subunit vaccines based on the genetic changes that occur in carcinogenesis. Expression of DNA encoding fragments of tumour-specific proteins as neo-antigens or surrogate antigens in a novel context may be a means of breaking immunological tolerance and lead to the generation of tumour-specific immune responses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oncology, Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Spooner
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Deonarain
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Epenetos
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004247:DNA / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000276:immunology; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II; D004247:DNA