Use of an extracellular matrix material as a vaccine carrier and adjuvant.

Background: The addition of adjuvants frequently enhances the efficacy of vaccine preparations. Interest in the use of vaccines as a means to treat cancer has led to the search for improved adjuvants. Because cancer vaccines based on whole cell preparations might benefit from an adjuvant which enhances expression of antigens expressed during tumor cell growth, we evaluated the utility of an extracellular matrix material, porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS), as a cancer vaccine adjuvant.

Inhibition of prostate cancer metastasis by administration of a tissue vaccine.

Immunotherapy by vaccination represents a novel method for treatment of cancer. In this regard, vaccines with the broadest possible menu of relevant antigens stand the greatest chance of success. Tissue vaccines are composed of material harvested directly from tumors and contain not only antigens associated with neoplastic epithelium, but also those that may be unique to in vivo growth and antigens associated with the tumor stroma.

Immunization with a tissue vaccine enhances the effect of irradiation on prostate tumors.

Recent studies on immunotherapy as a means to treat prostate cancer presents an interesting opportunity for combination therapy with radiation. This work was undertaken to determine if immunization with a prostate cancer tissue vaccine could enhance the effect of radiation treatment. Groups of Lobund-Wistar (LW) rats were subcutaneously administered PAIII prostate cancer cells (Day 0).

Prevention of human PC-346C prostate cancer growth in mice by a xenogeneic tissue vaccine.

Vaccination, as an approach to prostate cancer, has largely focused on immunotherapy utilizing specific molecules or allogeneic cells. Such methods are limited by the focused antigenic menu presented to the immune system and by immunotolerance to antigens recognized as "self". To examine if a xenogeneic tissue vaccine could stimulate protective immunity in a human prostate cancer cell line, a vaccine was produced by glutaraldehyde fixation of harvested PAIII prostate cancer cells tumors (GFT cell vaccine) from Lobund-Wistar rats.