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).

Formulation and characterization of a ten-peptide single-vial vaccine, EP-2101, designed to induce cytotoxic T-lymphocyte responses for cancer immunotherapy.

Effective vaccines that mediate clinical responses in cancer patients may require generation of broadly specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) directed against multiple epitopes and tumor-associated antigens (TAA). Pursuant to this goal we developed a synthetic peptide vaccine, EP-2101, composed of 10 synthetic peptide epitopes and formulated in Montanide ISA 51 adjuvant. Nine of the HLA-A*0201-restricted CTL epitopes were derived from five well-characterized TAA.

A decaepitope polypeptide primes for multiple CD8+ IFN-gamma and Th lymphocyte responses: evaluation of multiepitope polypeptides as a mode for vaccine delivery.

Proteins are generally regarded as ineffective immunogens for CTL responses. We synthesized a 100-mer decaepitope polypeptide and tested its capacity to induce multiple CD8(+) IFN-gamma and Th lymphocyte (HTL) responses in HLA transgenic mice. Following a single immunization in the absence of adjuvant, significant IFN-gamma in vitro recall responses were detected for all epitopes included in the construct (six A2.