title: Immunogenicity of a p210(BCR-ABL) fusion domain candidate DNA vaccine targeted to dendritic cells by a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector in vitro.
abstract: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is characterized by a t(9;22) translocation, which results in the expression of chimeric BCR-ABL fusion oncoproteins that are necessary for oncogenesis, unique to the leukemic clones, and represent enticing targets for immunotherapy. As a strategy for the immunotherapy of CML, we constructed a recombinant adeno-associated virus vector encoding the p210(BCR-ABL) b3a2 variant fusion region with flanking sequences (CWRBA) and used it to express the BCR-ABL fusion region within primary human dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen-presenting cells currently known. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors were primed and restimulated in vitro with autologous DCs transduced with purified CWRBA, CWRAP (negative control), or pulsed with a peptide corresponding to the fusion domain (positive control). No specific responses were generated using DCs transduced with CWRAP. In contrast, CWRBA-transduced DCs primed autologous T cells in an antigen-specific, MHC-restricted fashion to levels comparable with the positive control. CWRBA-transduced DCs elicited both cytotoxic CD4+/Th1 and CD8+ responses, although the former were more readily detected in this system. Cytotoxicity against a tumor cell line endogenously expressing the p210(BCR-ABL) b3a2 variant fusion region was also demonstrable. In addition, HLA-DRB5(*)0101+DRA (DR2a) was identified as a new restriction element capable of presenting the b3a2 BCR-ABL fusion region epitope. Thus, the construct developed herein may serve as a candidate vaccine for gene-based antigen-specific immunotherapy of CML and may serve as a paradigm for the use of DCs transduced with recombinant adeno-associated virus vectors encoding multiepitope immunogens for vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010, USA.
authors.forename: Ji-Yao
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Krouse
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Forman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Senitzer
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sniecinski
authors.forename: Saswati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chatterjee
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Wong
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D000229:Dependovirus / Q000235:genetics; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D020014:K562 Cells; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014161:Transduction, Genetic; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D016044:Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl