title: Intranasal immunization with a flagellin-adjuvanted peptide anticancer vaccine prevents tumor development by enhancing specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte response in a mouse model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a significant cause of cervical cancer-related deaths worldwide. Because HPV is a sexually transmitted mucosal pathogen, enhancement of antigen-specific mucosal immune response likely serves good strategy for vaccination. However, mucosal vaccines generally do not induce strong enough immune responses. Previously we proved that a bacterial flagellin, Vibrio vulnificus FlaB, induce strong antigen-specific immune responses by stimulating the Toll-like receptor 5. In this study, we tested whether FlaB could serve as an effective mucosal adjuvant for a peptide-based HPV preventive cancer vaccine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mice were intranasally administered with a mixture of FlaB and E6/E7 protective peptides in 5-day interval for a total of two times. Five-days after the last vaccination, cellular immune responses of the vaccinated mice were analyzed. Tumor growth was also observed after a subcutaneous implantation of TC-1 cells bearing E6/E7 antigens.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intranasal administration of the E6/E7 peptide mixture with FlaB elicited a strong antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity and antigen-specific interferon-γ production from splenocytes and cervical lymph node cells. Furthermore, FlaB, as a mucosal adjuvant, conferred an excellent protection against TC-1 tumor challenge with high survival rates in E6/E7 immunized animals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that FlaB can be a promising mucosal adjuvant for nasal HPV vaccine development.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Vaccine R&D Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Chung Truong
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Seol Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Thuan Trong
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Ung
authors.forename: Vivek
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Soo Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Joon Haeng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: Shee Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Adjuvant; Flagellin; Neoplasms; Vaccines