Recent advances in multivalent self adjuvanting glycolipopeptide vaccine strategies against breast cancer

Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2009 Nov-Dec;57(6):409-23. doi: 10.1007/s00005-009-0049-2. Epub 2009 Oct 29.

Abstract

Breast cancer (BrCa) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for women worldwide. Evidence from both patients and mouse cancer models suggests that the simultaneous induction of BrCa-specific CD4(+) T cells, CD8(+) cytotoxic T cells, and antibodies is crucial for providing immune resistance. However, almost all current vaccines address only a single arm of the immune system, which may explain their lack of efficacy. We believe that the correct response to monovalent vaccines' "failure" is to increase our knowledge about antitumor protective immunity and to develop a multivalent vaccine molecule that can simultaneously induce multiple arms of the immune system. We highlight here recent advances in anti-BrCa peptide-based vaccine strategies with an emphasis on the self adjuvanting multivalent glycolipopeptide vaccine strategy recently developed in our laboratory and which showed promising results in both immunotherapeutic and immunoprophylactic settings.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adjuvants, Immunologic
  • Animals
  • Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / immunology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Cancer Vaccines*
  • Female
  • Glycolipids / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular
  • Immunity, Humoral
  • Mice
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology*

Substances

  • Adjuvants, Immunologic
  • Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate
  • Cancer Vaccines
  • Glycolipids
  • Peptide Fragments