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The combined activation of positive costimulatory signals with modulation of a negative costimulatory signal for the enhancement of vaccine-mediated T-cell responses

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Abstract

Blockade of CTLA-4 by monoclonal antibodies (mAb) can mediate regression of tumors and increase the efficacy of tumor antigen specific vaccines. Blockade of CTLA-4 has also been shown to significantly increase the avidity of antigen-specific T cells after immunization with live recombinant viral vector based vaccine. Here, we demonstrate a biological synergy between CTLA-4 blockade and active vaccine therapy consisting of recombinant vaccinia and avipox viruses expressing carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and three T cell costimulatory molecules to enhance antitumor effects. However, this synergy was very much dependent on the temporal relationship of scheduling of the two agents. We evaluated the strategies in both a foreign antigen model using β-galactosidase as immunogen, and in a “self” antigen model using CEA as immunogen. For antitumor activity the model used consisted of mice transgenic for human CEA and a murine carcinoma cell line transfected with CEA. The enhanced antitumor activity after vaccine and CTLA-4 blockade did not result in any signs of autoimmunity. These studies form a rational basis for the use of vector-based vaccines with anti-CTLA-4 and demonstrate that both enhancement of positive costimulatory signals and inhibition of negative costimulatory signals can be simultaneously exploited. These studies also underscore the importance of “drug” scheduling in vaccine combination therapies.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Cancer Institute, Center of Cancer Research. The authors thank Dr. Scott Abrams and Dr. Connie Rogers for helpful review of this material and Debra Weingarten for her editorial assistance in the preparation of this paper.

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  1. Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive Room 8B09, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA

    Mala Chakraborty, Jeffrey Schlom & James W. Hodge

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  1. Mala Chakraborty
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  2. Jeffrey Schlom
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  3. James W. Hodge
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Schlom.

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Chakraborty, M., Schlom, J. & Hodge, J.W. The combined activation of positive costimulatory signals with modulation of a negative costimulatory signal for the enhancement of vaccine-mediated T-cell responses. Cancer Immunol Immunother 56, 1471–1484 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-007-0291-6

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