Xenogeneic immunization with human tyrosine hydroxylase DNA vaccines suppresses growth of established neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a challenging malignancy of the sympathetic nervous tissue characterized by a very poor prognosis. One important marker for NB is the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the first-step enzyme of catecholamine biosynthesis. We could show stable and high TH gene expression in 67 NB samples independent of the clinical stage.

Survivin minigene DNA vaccination is effective against neuroblastoma.

The inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin is highly expressed in neuroblastoma (NB) and survivin-specific T cells were identified in Stage 4 patients. Therefore, we generated a novel survivin minigene DNA vaccine (pUS-high) encoding exclusively for survivin-derived peptides with superior MHC class I (H2-K(k)) binding affinities and tested its efficacy to suppress tumor growth and metastases in a syngeneic NB mouse model. Vaccination was performed by oral gavage of attenuated Salmonella typhimurium SL7207 carrying pUS-high.