title: Improving the antigenicity of sTn antigen by modification of its sialic acid residue for development of glycoconjugate cancer vaccines.
abstract: Sialyl Tn (sTn) antigen is a sialylated disaccharide abundantly expressed by many tumors. To search for effective cancer immunotherapies based on sTn antigen, we designed and synthesized a series of unnatural N-acyl derivatives of sTn and studied their immunological properties. For this purpose, an efficient method was developed to synthesize the natural and unnatural forms of sTn antigen and their protein conjugates. The resultant glycoconjugates were used to immunize C57BL/6 mice, and the immune response was assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Whereas the keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) conjugate of sTn elicited low levels of IgM antibodies, the KLH conjugates of N-iso-butanoyl sTn and N-phenylacetyl sTn, especially the latter, induced high titers of antigen-specific IgG antibodies, showing a T-cell-dependent response that is critical for the antitumor activity. The results suggest that the modified forms of sTn, especially N-phenylacetyl sTn, have improved antigenicity and promising immunological properties for use as cancer vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University, 5101 Cass Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhongwu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006001:Glycoconjugates / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D015394:Molecular Structure; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D019496:Cancer Vaccines; D006001:Glycoconjugates; C055491:sialosyl-Tn antigen; D019158:N-Acetylneuraminic Acid