A DNA vaccine against VEGF receptor 2 prevents effective angiogenesis and inhibits tumor growth.

Tumor cells are elusive targets for immunotherapy due to their heterogeneity and genetic instability. Here we describe a novel, oral DNA vaccine that targets stable, proliferating endothelial cells in the tumor vasculature rather than tumor cells. Targeting occurs through upregulated vascular-endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (FLK-1) of proliferating endothelial cells in the tumor vasculature.

Immunotherapy with a posttranscriptionally modified DNA vaccine induces complete protection against metastatic neuroblastoma.

The successful induction of a T-cell-mediated tumor-protective immunity against poorly immunogenic malignancies remains a major challenge for cancer immunotherapy. We achieved this by immunization with a tyrosine hydroxylase (mTH)-based DNA vaccine, enhanced with the posttranscriptional regulatory acting RNA element (WPRE), derived from woodchuck hepatitis virus in combination with an antibody-cytokine fusion protein (ch14.18-IL-2) that targets interleukin-2 (IL-2) to the tumor microenvironment.