title: Anti-HER-2 DNA vaccine protects Syrian hamsters against squamous cell carcinomas.
abstract: This paper illustrates the efficacy of DNA vaccination through electroporation in the prevention of oral transplantable carcinoma in Syrian hamsters. At 21 and 7 days before tumour challenge, 19 hamsters were vaccinated with plasmids coding for the extracellular and transmembrane domains of rat HER-2 receptor (EC-TM plasmids), whereas 19 control hamsters were injected intramuscularly with the empty plasmid. Immediately following plasmid injection, hamsters of both groups received two square-wave 25 ms, 375 V cm(-1) electric pulses via two electrodes placed on the skin of the injection area. At day 0, all hamsters were challenged in the submucosa of the right cheek pouch with HER-2-positive HCPC I cells established in vitro from an 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced oral carcinoma. This challenge gave rise to HER-2-positive buccal neoplastic lesions in 14 controls (73.37%), compared with only seven (36.8%, P<0.0027) vaccinated hamsters. In addition, the vaccinated hamsters displayed both a stronger proliferative and cytotoxic response than the controls and a significant anti-HER-2 antibody response. Most of the hamsters that rejected the challenge displayed the highest antibody titres. These findings suggest that DNA vaccination may have a future in the prevention of HER-2-positive human oral cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, Ospedale San Luigi Gonzaga, University of Turin, I-10043 Orbassano, Italy. giovanni.berta@unito.it
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Berta
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mognetti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spadaro
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Trione
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amici
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forni
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cavallo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006224:Cricetinae; D018274:Electroporation; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000276:immunology*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D019444:Vaccines, DNA