title: Heat shock protein 70/MAGE-3 fusion protein vaccine can enhance cellular and humoral immune responses to MAGE-3 in vivo.
abstract: MAGE-3, a member of melanoma antigen (MAGE) gene family, is recognized as an ideal candidate for tumor vaccine because it is expressed in a significant proportion of tumors of various histological types and can induce antigen-specific immune response in vivo. There is now substantial evidence that heat shock proteins HSPs isolated from cancer cells and virus-infected cells can be used as vaccines to produce cancer-specific or virus-specific immunity. In this research, we investigated whether M. tuberculosis HSP70 can be used as vehicle to elicit immune response to its accompanying MAGE-3 protein. A recombinant protein expression vector was constructed that permitted the production of fusion protein linking amino acids 195-314 of MAGE-3 to the C terminus of HSP70. We found that HSP70-MAGE-3 fusion protein can elicit stronger cellular and humoral immune responses against MAGE-3 expressing murine tumor than those elicited by MAGE-3 protein in vivo, which resulted in potent antitumor immunity against MAGE-3-expressing tumors. Covalent linkage of HSP70 to MAGE-3 was necessary to elicit immune response to MAGE-3. These results indicate that linkage of HSP70 to MAGE-3 enhanced immune responses to MAGE-3 in vivo and HSP70 can be exploited to enhance the cellular and humoral immune responses against any attached tumor-specific antigens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Xi Jing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, 710032, Shaanxi Province, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Hai
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yan-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Ya-Yu
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zeng-Shan
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guang-Sheng
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Hong-Ping
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xiu-Min
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D015996:Survival Rate; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014611:Vaccination; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; C072013:MAGEA3 protein, human; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D019444:Vaccines, DNA