Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer

CD4+ T helper antigens are essential components of cancer vaccines, but the relevance of the source of these MHC class II-restricted antigens remains underexplored. To compare the effectiveness of tumor-specific versus tumor-unrelated helper antigens, we designed three DNA vaccines for the murine MC...

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Main Authors: Joanna Fréderique de Graaf, Tamara Pesic, Felicia S. Spitzer, Koen Oosterhuis, Marcel G.M. Camps, Iris Zoutendijk, Bram Teunisse, Wahwah Zhu, Tsolere Arakelian, Gerben C. Zondag, Ramon Arens, Jeroen van Bergen, Ferry Ossendorp
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-09-01
Series:Molecular Therapy: Oncology
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950329924000778
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author Joanna Fréderique de Graaf
Tamara Pesic
Felicia S. Spitzer
Koen Oosterhuis
Marcel G.M. Camps
Iris Zoutendijk
Bram Teunisse
Wahwah Zhu
Tsolere Arakelian
Gerben C. Zondag
Ramon Arens
Jeroen van Bergen
Ferry Ossendorp
author_facet Joanna Fréderique de Graaf
Tamara Pesic
Felicia S. Spitzer
Koen Oosterhuis
Marcel G.M. Camps
Iris Zoutendijk
Bram Teunisse
Wahwah Zhu
Tsolere Arakelian
Gerben C. Zondag
Ramon Arens
Jeroen van Bergen
Ferry Ossendorp
author_sort Joanna Fréderique de Graaf
collection DOAJ
description CD4+ T helper antigens are essential components of cancer vaccines, but the relevance of the source of these MHC class II-restricted antigens remains underexplored. To compare the effectiveness of tumor-specific versus tumor-unrelated helper antigens, we designed three DNA vaccines for the murine MC-38 colon carcinoma, encoding CD8+ T cell neoantigens alone (noHELP) or in combination with either “universal” helper antigens (uniHELP) or helper neoantigens (neoHELP). Both types of helped vaccines increased the frequency of vaccine-induced CD8+ T cells, and particularly uniHELP increased the fraction of KLRG1+ and PD-1low effector cells. However, when mice were subsequently injected with MC-38 cells, only neoHELP vaccination resulted in significantly better tumor control than noHELP. In contrast to uniHELP, neoHELP-induced tumor control was dependent on the presence of CD4+ T cells, while both vaccines relied on CD8+ T cells. In line with this, neoHELP variants containing wild-type counterparts of the CD4+ or CD8+ T cell neoantigens displayed reduced tumor control. These data indicate that optimal personalized cancer vaccines should include MHC class II-restricted neoantigens to elicit tumor-specific CD4+ T cell help.
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publishDate 2024-09-01
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series Molecular Therapy: Oncology
spelling doaj-art-e92cb4bb786a40a8a8b6b2e2074590082025-08-20T02:32:49ZengElsevierMolecular Therapy: Oncology2950-32992024-09-0132320083510.1016/j.omton.2024.200835Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancerJoanna Fréderique de Graaf0Tamara Pesic1Felicia S. Spitzer2Koen Oosterhuis3Marcel G.M. Camps4Iris Zoutendijk5Bram Teunisse6Wahwah Zhu7Tsolere Arakelian8Gerben C. Zondag9Ramon Arens10Jeroen van Bergen11Ferry Ossendorp12Immunetune BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the NetherlandsImmunetune BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the NetherlandsSynvolux BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsImmunetune BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsSynvolux BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the NetherlandsImmunetune BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the Netherlands; Synvolux BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the NetherlandsImmunetune BV, 2333 CH Leiden, the NetherlandsDepartment of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands; Corresponding author: Ferry Ossendorp, Department of Immunology, Leiden University Medical Center, 2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands.CD4+ T helper antigens are essential components of cancer vaccines, but the relevance of the source of these MHC class II-restricted antigens remains underexplored. To compare the effectiveness of tumor-specific versus tumor-unrelated helper antigens, we designed three DNA vaccines for the murine MC-38 colon carcinoma, encoding CD8+ T cell neoantigens alone (noHELP) or in combination with either “universal” helper antigens (uniHELP) or helper neoantigens (neoHELP). Both types of helped vaccines increased the frequency of vaccine-induced CD8+ T cells, and particularly uniHELP increased the fraction of KLRG1+ and PD-1low effector cells. However, when mice were subsequently injected with MC-38 cells, only neoHELP vaccination resulted in significantly better tumor control than noHELP. In contrast to uniHELP, neoHELP-induced tumor control was dependent on the presence of CD4+ T cells, while both vaccines relied on CD8+ T cells. In line with this, neoHELP variants containing wild-type counterparts of the CD4+ or CD8+ T cell neoantigens displayed reduced tumor control. These data indicate that optimal personalized cancer vaccines should include MHC class II-restricted neoantigens to elicit tumor-specific CD4+ T cell help.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950329924000778MT: Regular IssueDNA vaccinecancer vaccineneoantigenspersonalized medicineimmunotherapy
spellingShingle Joanna Fréderique de Graaf
Tamara Pesic
Felicia S. Spitzer
Koen Oosterhuis
Marcel G.M. Camps
Iris Zoutendijk
Bram Teunisse
Wahwah Zhu
Tsolere Arakelian
Gerben C. Zondag
Ramon Arens
Jeroen van Bergen
Ferry Ossendorp
Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
Molecular Therapy: Oncology
MT: Regular Issue
DNA vaccine
cancer vaccine
neoantigens
personalized medicine
immunotherapy
title Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
title_full Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
title_fullStr Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
title_full_unstemmed Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
title_short Neoantigen-specific T cell help outperforms non-specific help in multi-antigen DNA vaccination against cancer
title_sort neoantigen specific t cell help outperforms non specific help in multi antigen dna vaccination against cancer
topic MT: Regular Issue
DNA vaccine
cancer vaccine
neoantigens
personalized medicine
immunotherapy
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950329924000778
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