An attenuated Salmonella oral DNA vaccine prevents the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma and colon cancer that express alpha-fetoprotein

Cancer Gene Ther. 2006 Aug;13(8):746-52. doi: 10.1038/sj.cgt.7700927. Epub 2006 Jan 6.

Abstract

Antitumor vaccination therapies using attenuated Salmonella typhimurium carrying plasmid DNA encoding tumor-associated antigens are currently under preclinical development. In the present study, we first established a useful method to facilitate in vivo monitoring of attenuated S. typhimurium uptake using a bioluminescent lux gene operon plasmid. Following transformation with the lux gene operon construct, mice were fed with various amounts of attenuated S. typhimurium-lux to monitor in vivo clearance over a period of 24 h. We found that the ingested attenuated S. typhimurium-lux cells were almost cleared out 9 h postfeeding, as judged by a significant decrease in bioluminescence. We further examined the therapeutic efficacy of vaccination using attenuated S. typhimurium carrying the mouse alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) gene against a cancer line CT26-murine alpha-feto protein (mAFP) that stably expresses AFP and mouse hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Hepa1-6. Attenuated S. typhimurium oral DNA vaccine was found to promote protective immunity against both CT26-mAFP and Hepa1-6 tumor cells growth. The oral DNA vaccine significantly increased the life span of tumor-challenged mice in both tumor models. Together, these results suggest that vaccination with the attenuated S. typhimurium oral DNA vaccine that carries the AFP gene could be a promising strategy to prevent HCC development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Animals
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / immunology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / prevention & control*
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Colonic Neoplasms / immunology
  • Colonic Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
  • Genes, Bacterial
  • Humans
  • Immune Tolerance
  • Liver Neoplasms / immunology
  • Liver Neoplasms / prevention & control*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Operon
  • Plasmids
  • Salmonella typhimurium / genetics
  • Salmonella typhimurium / immunology*
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • Vaccines, Attenuated
  • Vaccines, DNA / administration & dosage
  • Vaccines, DNA / immunology*
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
  • alpha-Fetoproteins / genetics*
  • alpha-Fetoproteins / immunology

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Vaccines, Attenuated
  • Vaccines, DNA
  • alpha-Fetoproteins