Allogeneic melanoma vaccine expressing alphaGal epitopes induces antitumor immunity to autologous antigens in mice without signs of toxicity.

Owing to the absence of alphaGal epitopes in human cells and constant stimulation of the immune system by the symbiotic bacterial flora, humans develop high titers of natural antibodies against these epitopes. It has been demonstrated that syngeneic whole cell vaccines modified to express alphaGal epitopes could be used to generate a potent anticancer vaccine. In this study, we tested whether allogeneic whole cell cancer vaccines modified to express alphaGal epitopes would be effective for the treatment of murine melanoma.