Fusion to Listeriolysin O and delivery by Listeria monocytogenes enhances the immunogenicity of HER-2/neu and reveals subdominant epitopes in the FVB/N mouse.

Subdominant Epitopes in the FVB/N Mouse Immunogenicity of HER-2/neu and Reveals Enhances the Listeria monocytogenes Fusion to Listeriolysin O and Delivery by

Vaccination strategy determines the emergence and dominance of CD8+ T-cell epitopes in a FVB/N rat HER-2/neu mouse model of breast cancer.

The HER-2/neu oncogene has >25 HLA epitopes, yet only one FVB/N mouse CD8(+) T-cell epitope has been mapped to date. This epitope has been termed the immunodominant epitope for the FVB/N mouse, but we propose that the vaccination strategy determines the dominance of epitopes. Using a series of overlapping peptides, we have mapped another CD8(+) T-cell epitope that emerges in the FVB/N mouse fol...

An anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2/fetal liver kinase-1 Listeria monocytogenes anti-angiogenesis cancer vaccine for the treatment of primary and metastatic Her-2/neu+ breast tumors in a mouse model.

Thirty years after angiogenesis was shown to play an enabling role in cancer, modern medicine is still trying to develop novel compounds and therapeutics to target the tumor vasculature. However, most therapeutics require multiple rounds of administration and can have toxic side effects. In this study, we use anti-angiogenesis immunotherapy to target cells actively involved in forming new blood...

A novel approach of direct ex vivo epitope mapping identifies dominant and subdominant CD4 and CD8 T cell epitopes from Listeria monocytogenes.

We used a novel approach for the direct ex vivo identification and characterization of T cell epitopes based on the screening of peptide spot libraries with freshly isolated splenocytes in a sensitive enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay. This technique was applied for the analysis of splenocytes from Listeria monocytogenes-infected BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. The screening of peptide spot lib...

Recombinant Listeria vaccines containing PEST sequences are potent immune adjuvants for the tumor-associated antigen human papillomavirus-16 E7.

Previous work in our laboratory has established that the fusion of tumor-associated antigens to a truncated form of the Listeria monocytogenes virulence factor listeriolysin O (LLO) enhances the immunogenicity and antitumor efficacy of the tumor antigen when delivered by Listeria or by vaccinia. LLO contains a PEST sequence at the NH(2) terminus. These sequences, which are found in eukaryotic p...