Active immunotherapy is becoming a reality in the treatment of malignancies. Peptide-based vaccines represent a simple, safe, and economic basis for cancer immunotherapeutics development. However, therapeutic efficacy has been disappointing. Some of the reasons for this, such as selection of patients with advanced disease and ignorance of the delayed activity of many immunotherapeutic vaccines, have hampered the entire field of cancer immunotherapy over the last decade. Another reason for this may be that most peptide regimens historically have focused on activation of CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes, having little or only indirect CD4+ T helper (Th) cell activation. We review here evidence for the importance of specific CD4+ Th activation in cancer immunotherapy and the use of Ii-Key technology to accomplish this. Ii-Key (LRMK), a portion of the MHC class II-associated invariant chain (Ii protein), facilitates the direct charging of peptide epitopes onto MHC class II molecules. Directly linking Ii-Key to MHC class II peptide epitopes greatly enhances their potency in activating CD4+ T-cells. The Ii-Key hybrid AE37, generated by linking LRMK to the known HER2 MHC class II epitope HER2 (aa 776-790), has been shown to generate robust, long lasting HER2-specific immune responses both in patients with breast and prostate cancer. Interim data from a phase II study of AE37 in breast cancer patients suggest a possible improvement in clinical outcome. The Ii-Key hybrid technology is compared to other methods for enhancing the potency of peptide immunotherapy for cancer.
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