Humoral responses to melanoma vaccine, genetically modified with interleukin 6 and soluble interleukin 6 receptor

Cancer Vaccine Therapeutics: Limitations and Effectiveness-A Literature Review

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in tumor microenvironment-associated cancer vaccine therapies. These innovative treatments aim to activate and enhance the body's natural immune response against cancer cells by utilizing specific antigens present in the tumor microenvironment. The goal is to achieve a complete clinical response, where all measurable cancer cells are either eliminated or greatly reduced in size. With their potential to revolutionize cancer treatment, these therapies represent a promising avenue for researchers and clinicians alike. Despite over 100 years of research, the success of therapeutic cancer vaccines has been variable, particularly in advanced cancer patients, with various limitations, including the heterogeneity of the tumor microenvironment, the presence of immunosuppressive cells, and the potential for tumor escape mechanisms. Additionally, the effectiveness of these therapies may be limited by the variability of the patient's immune system response and the difficulty in identifying appropriate antigens for each patient. Despite these challenges, tumor microenvironment-targeted vaccine cancer therapies have shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies and have the potential to become a valuable addition to current cancer treatment and "curative" options. While chemotherapeutic and monoclonal antibody treatments remain popular, ongoing research is needed to optimize the design and delivery of these therapies and to identify biomarkers that can predict response and guide patient selection. This comprehensive review explores the mechanisms of cancer vaccines, various delivery methods, and the role of adjuvants in improving treatment outcomes. It also discusses the historical background of cancer vaccine research and examines the current state of major cancer vaccination immunotherapies. Furthermore, the limitations and effectiveness of each vaccine type are analyzed, providing insights into the future of cancer vaccine development.

Therapeutic melanoma vaccine with cancer stem cell phenotype represses exhaustion and maintains antigen-specific T cell stemness by up-regulating BCL6

We developed a therapeutic, gene-modified, allogeneic melanoma vaccine (AGI-101H), which, upon genetic modification, acquired melanoma stem cell-like phenotype. Since its initial clinical trial in 1997, the vaccine has resulted in the long-term survival of a substantial fraction of immunized patients (up to 20 years). Here, we investigated the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the long-lasting effect of AGI-101H using transcriptome profiling of patients' peripheral T lymphocytes. Magnetically-separated T lymphocytes from AGI-101H-immunized long-term survivors, untreated melanoma patients, and healthy controls were subjected to transcriptome profiling using the microarray analyses. Data were analyzed with a multitude of bioinformatics tools (WebGestalt, DAVID, GSEA) and the results were validated with RT-qPCR. We found substantial differences in the transcriptomes of healthy controls and melanoma patients (both untreated and AGI-101H-vaccinated). AGI-101H immunization induced similar profiles of peripheral T cells as tumor residing in untreated patients. This suggests that whole stem cells immunization mobilizes analogous peripheral T cells to the natural adaptive anti-melanoma response. Moreover, AGI-101H treatment activated the TNF-α and TGF-β signaling pathways and dampened IL2-STAT5 signaling in T cells, which finally resulted in the significant up-regulation of a BCL6 transcriptional repressor, a known amplifier of the proliferative capacity of central memory T cells and mediator of a progenitor fate in antigen-specific T cells. In the present study, high levels of BCL6 transcripts negatively correlated with the expression of several exhaustion markers (CTLA4, KLRG1, PTGER2, IKZF2, TIGIT). Therefore, Bcl6 seems to promote a progenitor fate for cancer-experienced T cells from AGI-101H-vaccinated patients by repressing the exhaustion markers.

Hyper-interleukin-11 novel designer molecular adjuvant targeting gp130 for whole cell cancer vaccines

BACKGROUND

Hyper-IL-11 (H11) is a fusion protein comprising IL-11 and soluble IL-11 receptor directly targeting gp130. We evaluated efficacy of H11 as a molecular adjuvant in therapeutic whole tumor cell vaccine formulation.

METHODS

H11 was tested in ectopic and orthotopic murine renal cell carcinoma (RENCA) models. H11 cDNA was transduced into RENCA cells (RENCA-H11). Mice were immunized with RENCA-H11 or control vaccine (RENCA-IRR) in prophylactic, adjuvant and therapeutic settings. Tumor formation, survival and immune mechanisms activated by H11 were studied.

RESULTS

Biologically active H11 was secreted by RENCA-H11 cells. Immunization with RENCA-H11 resulted in mounting specific anti-RENCA response. Treatment of tumor bearing mice in adjuvant setting prevented disease recurrence in therapeutic setting eradicated tumors. In induction phase H11 inhibited T-regulatory cell formation and activated recruitment and maturation of dendritic cells. Downstream of immunization tumors were densely infiltrated by CD8(+), CD4(+), NK cells, cells expressing CD8(+)CD69(+) and CD4(+)CD62L(low).

CONCLUSIONS

H11 is a good candidate for adjuvant of whole tumor cell vaccines. Direct targeting of gp130 leads to induction of specific and long lasting anticancer immune response. Enhancement of tumor antigen presentation, abrogation of immune tolerance, and activation of NK cells and generation of memory cells lead to eradication of existing tumors.

Human cancer gene therapy with cytokine gene-modified cells

Cytokines can impede tumour growth and activate innate and adaptive immune responses, leading to elimination of cancer cells. For many years, it was believed that systemic administration of recombinant cytokines might become a standard treatment of different cancer types. However, due to a high toxicity of therapeutic doses and a low efficacy, even in combination with chemotherapy, this strategy is generally not accepted. On the other hand, cancer gene therapy approaches utilising cells modified with cytokine genes seem to represent a novel promising approach. For the last decade, numerous Phase I and II clinical trials evaluating different therapies based on cytokine gene-modified cells have been carried out. In the early studies, several strategies have been shown to improve clinical outcomes and induce strong antitumour immune responses. Recently, a few prospective, randomised, Phase III clinical trials have been initiated in order to finally determine the efficacy of particular cancer immunogene therapy strategies. This article reviews the present status and perspectives of clinical trials of cancer immunotherapies utilising cytokine gene-modified cells.