Rejection of large HPV-16 expressing tumors in aged mice by a single immunization of VacciMax encapsulated CTL/T helper peptides.

The incidence of cancer increases significantly in later life, yet few pre-clinical studies of cancer immunotherapy use mice of advanced age. A novel vaccine delivery platform (VacciMax,VM) is described that encapsulates antigens and adjuvants in multilamellar liposomes in a water-in-oil emulsion. The therapeutic potential of VM-based vaccines administered as a single dose was tested in HLA-A2 transgenic mice of advanced age (48-58 weeks old) bearing large palpable TC1/A2 tumors.

Therapy of established B16-F10 melanoma tumors by a single vaccination of CTL/T helper peptides in VacciMax.

Background: Melanoma tumors are known to express antigens that usually induce weak immune responses of short duration. Expression of both tumor-associated antigens p53 and TRP2 by melanoma cells raises the possibility of simultaneously targeting more than one antigen in a therapeutic vaccine. In this report, we show that VacciMax (VM), a novel liposome-based vaccine delivery platform, can increase the immunogenicity of melanoma associated antigens, resulting in tumor elimination.

Developmental and adult phenotyping directly from mutant embryonic stem cells.

Tetraploid embryo complementation assay has shown that mouse ES cells alone are capable of supporting embryonic development and adult life of mice. Newly established F(1) hybrid ES cells allow the production of ES cell-derived animals at a high enough efficiency to directly make ES cell-based genetics feasible. Here we report the establishment and characterization of 12 new F(1) hybrid ES cell lines and the use of one of the best (G4) in a gain- and loss-of-function genetic study, where the in vivo phenotypes were assessed directly from ES cell-derived embryos.

Cre recombinase specificity defined by the tau locus.

We generated a transgenic mouse line (tau::Cre) by targeting the Cre to the tau locus (Mapt). Based on previous reports on the expression of Tau during development, we expected the Cre recombinase to be expressed in a neuron-specific and pan-neuronal manner. However, intercrosses between the tau::Cre and the Cre-activatable reporter animals resulted in offspring with recombination either restricted to the nervous system or throughout the entire conceptus, indicating expression of Tau early in development.