Development of a Novel Vaccine with Fusions of Dendritic and Ovarian Cancer Cells from Patients

摘要

Dendritic/tumor fusion cell vaccine has been developed in our lab. The antitumor immunity induced by fusion cells has been demonstrated in murine models and in humans. In the present study, ovarian carcinoma cells (OVCA) derived from 8 out of 9 patients were successfully fused with autologous DC. The created heterokaryons expressed tumor-associated antigens, such as CA-125, MUC1 or/and HER2/neu, and DC-derived co-stimulatory and adhesion molecules. The fusion cells were functional in stimulating the proliferation of autologous T cells. The level of T cell proliferation was increased six-seven folds when cocultured with fusion cells. Significantly, CD4+/CD8+ T cells derived from patients with ovarian cancer were stimulated by fusion cells to secret high level of IFN-r as demonstrated by intracellular staining in 7 patients. The T cells primed by fusion cells produced MHC class l