Interleukin-6 and indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase as potential adjuvant targets for Papillomavirus-related tumors immunotherapy.

High-risk Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections represent an important public health issue. Nearly all cervical malignancies are associated with HPV, and a range of other female and male cancers, such as anogenital and oropharyngeal. Aiming to treat HPV-related tumors, our group developed vaccines based on the genetic fusion of the HSV-1 glycoprotein D (gD) with the HPV-16 E7 oncoprotein (gDE7 vaccines).

Active immunization combined with cisplatin confers enhanced therapeutic protection and prevents relapses of HPV-induced tumors at different anatomical sites.

The active immunotherapy concept relies on the use of vaccines that are capable of inducing antitumor immunity, reversion of the suppressive immunological environment, and long-term memory responses. Previously, antitumor vaccines based on a recombinant plasmid (pgDE7h) or a purified protein (gDE7) led to regression of early-established human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated tumors in a preclinical model. In this work, the anticancer vaccines were combined with cisplatin to treat HPV-induced tumors at advanced growth stages.

The Combined Use of Melatonin and an Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase-1 Inhibitor Enhances Vaccine-Induced Protective Cellular Immunity to HPV16-Associated Tumors.

Immunotherapy has become an important ally in the fight against distinct types of cancer. However, the metabolic plasticity of the tumor environment frequently influences the efficacy of therapeutic procedures, including those based on immunological tools. In this scenario, immunometabolic adjuvants arise as an alternative toward the development of more efficient cancer therapies.