News Release

Fully synthetic Tn-based three-component cancer vaccine using covalently linked TLR4 ligand MPLA and iNKT cell agonist KRN-7000 as built-in adjuvant effectively protects mice from tumor development

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2022.05.028

 

This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses a fully synthetic Tn-based three-component cancer vaccine using covalently linked TLR4 ligand MPLA and iNKT cell agonist KRN-7000 as built-in adjuvant effectively protects mice from tumor development.

 

The authors of this article present a new strategy for self-adjuvanting vaccine development that has different types of covalently-linked immunostimulants as the carrier molecule.

 

Using Tn antigen as the model, a three-component vaccine (MPLA-Tn-KRN7000) containing the TLR4 ligand MPLA and the iNKT cell agonist KRN7000 was designed and synthesized. This expands fully synthetic self-adjuvanting vaccine studies that use a single carrier to one with two different types of carriers. The corresponding two-component conjugate vaccines Tn-MPLA, Tn-KRN7000 and Tn-CRM197 were also synthesized, as controls. The immunological evaluation found that MPLA-Tn-KRN7000 elicits robust Tn-specific and T cell-dependent immunity. The antibodies specifically recognized, bound to and exhibited complement-dependent cytotoxicity against Tn-positive cancer cells. In addition, MPLA-Tn-KRN7000 increased the survival rate and survival time of tumor-challenged mice, and surviving mice reject further tumor attacks without any additional treatment. Compared to the glycoprotein vaccine Tn-CRM197, the two-component conjugate vaccines, Tn-MPLA and Tn-KRN7000, and the physical mixture of Tn-MPLA and Tn-KRN7000, MPLA-Tn-KRN7000 showed the most effect at combating tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. The comparison of immunological studies in wild-type and TLR4 knockout mice, along with the test of binding affinity to CD1d protein suggests that the covalently linked MPLA-KRN7000 immunostimulant induces a synergistic activation of TLR4 and iNKT cell that improves the immunogenicity of Tn.

 

This work demonstrates that MPLA-Tn-KRN7000 has the potential to be a vaccine candidate and provides a new direction for fully synthetic vaccine design.

 

Keywords: Cancer vaccine, Tn antigen, MPLA, KRN7000, Immunotherapy

Graphical Abstract: available at https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2211383522002507-ga1_lrg.jpg

A new strategy to construct self-adjuvanting antitumor vaccine was developed. The resulting three-component vaccine elicited strong humoral and cellular immune responses, and protected mice from tumor development.

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The Journal of the Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

For more information please visit https://www.journals.elsevier.com/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b/

Editorial Board: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b/editorial-board

 

APSB is available on ScienceDirect (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b).

 

Submissions to APSB may be made using Editorial Manager® (https://www.editorialmanager.com/apsb/default.aspx).

 

CiteScore: 15.9

Impact Factor: 14.903

JIF without self-citation: 13.888

 

ISSN 2211-3835

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Article reference: Deying Yang, Xiang Luo, Qinghai Lian, Lingqiang Gao, Chengxin Wang, Xiaoxiao Qi, Rong Zhang, Zhongqiu Liu, Guochao Liao, Fully synthetic Tn-based three-component cancer vaccine using covalently linked TLR4 ligand MPLA and iNKT cell agonist KRN-7000 as built-in adjuvant effectively protects mice from tumor development, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, Volume 12, Issue 12, 2022, Pages 4432-4445, ISSN 2211-3835, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2022.05.028


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