Background: The crucial role of CD4 T-cells in anti-tumor immune response is widely recognized, yet the identification of HLA class II-restricted epitopes derived from tumor antigens has lagged behind compared to class I epitopes. This is particularly true for prostate cancer. Based on the hypothesis that successful cancer immunotherapy will likely resemble autoimmunity, we searched for the CD4 T-cell epitopes derived from prostatic proteins that are restricted by human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1*1501, an allele associated with granulomatous prostatitis (GP), a disease that may have an autoimmune etiology. One of the antigens implicated in the development of autoimmunity in the prostate is prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), which is also considered a promising target for prostate cancer immunotherapy.
Methods: We immunized transgenic (tg) mice engineered to express HLA-DRB1*1501 with human PAP. A library of overlapping 20-mer peptides spanning the entire human PAP sequence was screened in vitro for T-cell recognition by proliferative and interferon (IFN)-gamma enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISPOT) assays.
Results: We identified two 20-mer peptides, PAP (133-152), and PAP (173-192), that were immunogenic and naturally processed from whole PAP in HLA-DRB1*1501 tg mice. These peptides were also capable of stimulating CD4 T lymphocytes from HLA-DRB1*1501-positive patients with GP and normal donors.
Conclusions: These peptides can be used for the design of a new generation of peptide-based vaccines against prostate cancer. The study can also be helpful in understanding the role of autoimmunity in the development of some forms of chronic prostatitis.