PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mendiratta, Sanjeev Kumar
AU  - Thai, Gerald
AU  - Eslahi, Nima K.
AU  - Thull, Nikolyn M.
AU  - Matar, Majed
AU  - Bronte, Vincenzo
AU  - Pericle, Federica
TI  - Therapeutic Tumor Immunity Induced by Polyimmunization with Melanoma Antigens gp100 and TRP-2
DP  - 2001 Feb 02
TA  - Cancer Research
PG  - 859--863
VI  - 61
IP  - 3
4099  - http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/61/3/859.short
4100  - http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/61/3/859.full
SO  - Cancer Res2001 Feb 02; 61
AB  - To improve the immunogenicity of melanoma self-antigens, we used a novel strategy of nonviral genetic vaccination coupled with muscle electroporation. Electroporation-enhanced immunization with plasmids encoding either human gp100 or mouse TRP-2 antigens induced only partial rejection of B16 melanoma challenge. However, immunization with a combination of these two antigens caused tumor rejection in 100% of the immunized mice. Splenocytes from combination-immunized animals killed syngeneic targets loaded with peptides derived from both gp100 and TRP-2. Immune cell depletion experiments identified CD8+ T lymphocytes as the primary effectors of antitumor immunity. Most importantly, polyimmunization led to the generation of a therapeutic immune response that significantly improved the mean survival time of mice bearing established lung metastases. These results validated the usefulness of electroporation-enhanced, nonviral genetic immunization for the active immunotherapy of cancer and indicated that using a combination of different tumor antigens may be a decisive strategy for a successful therapeutic vaccination. ©2001 American Association for Cancer Research.