Synthesis of Lipoprotein Immunostimulants for Treating Prostate Cancer

摘要

The prospects of stimulating a patient's own immune system as a therapeutic approach to the treatment of cancer in general, and prostate cancer in particular , is intriguing. However, thus far immunotherapeutic approaches to the treatment of cancer (including prostate cancer) in the clinical setting have not been uniformly successful. We are chemically synthesizing molecular conjugates that comprise a Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) ligand covalently linked to a prostate cancer tumor-associated antigen protein or peptide. Using this tactic, we anticipate that the TLR-Ligand portion of the conjugates will stimulate dendritic cells(DCs) as well as other TLR-expressing antigen presenting cells to secrete immune-activating T cells. In this way, a new and potent immune system stimulation and antigen presentation mechanism aimed at the stimulation of combined CD8+ and CD4+ T-cell responses, along with B-cell activation via the innate/adaptive immune response connection, is being developed. We have prepared TLR-4 and TLR-7 ligands and are preparing mouse immunization experiments to test the efficacy of this new approach to cancer immunotherapy.