A degenerate HLA-DR epitope pool of HER-2/neu reveals a novel in vivo immunodominant epitope, HER-2/neu88-102.

Purpose: Over the past two decades, there has been significant interest in targeting HER-2/neu in immune-based approaches for the treatment of HER-2/neu+ cancers. For example, peptide vaccination using a CD8 T cell-activating HER-2/neu epitope (amino acids 369-377) is an approach that is being considered in advanced phase clinical trials. Studies have suggested that the persistence of HER-2/neu-specific CD8 T cells could be improved by incorporating human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II epitopes in the vaccine.

Identification of a broad coverage HLA-DR degenerate epitope pool derived from carcinoembryonic antigen.

CD4 T cells are important for anti-tumor immune responses. Aside from their role in the activation of CD8 T cells, CD4 T cells also mediate anti-tumor immune responses by recruiting innate immune effectors into the tumor microenvironment. Thus, the search for strategies to boost CD4 T cell immunity is an active area of research.

An HLA-DR-degenerate epitope pool detects insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2-specific immunity in patients with cancer.

Recent studies have shown the importance of helper CD4 T cells in initiating and sustaining tumor-specific CD8 T-cell immunity. This has paved the way for identifying MHC class II epitopes that could be incorporated into class I-based vaccines. In this study, the goal was to identify an HLA-DR-degenerate epitope pool derived from insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2).

Design of multi-epitope, analogue-based cancer vaccines.

The current objective of our cancer programme is to develop an effective vaccine based on rationally designed T cell epitope analogues, for use in the adjuvant setting for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colon cancer. Analogue epitopes, enhanced for either human leukocyte antigen (HLA) binding or T cell receptor (TCR) signalling, have been shown to be more effective at breaking immunological tolerance than cognate wild-type epitopes. Although encouraging early-phase clinical data has been obtained by others using a limited number of HLA-A2-restricted epitope analogues, the clinical benefits and immune correlates for vaccines comprised of multiple epitope analogues restricted by multiple HLA supertypes remains to be investigated.