Antibody targeted CpG for the immunotherapy of solid tumors

Introduction This work describes a method to improve the therapeutic effects of unmethylated CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) analogues which can be used to stimulate the innate immune system. It is based upon the generation of novel reagents that can be used to target tumors after linkage of CpG ODNs analogues to tumor targeting monoclonal antibodies. This approach to cancer immunotherapy is novel in concept and will yield important information regarding the effectiveness of components of innate immunity in the treatment of cancer and related diseases and its ability to alter the tumor microenvironment. CpG has been used exclusively as adjuvants by injection locally at the site of interest or mixed with a tumor vaccine. For systemic diseases such as cancer, however, the local administration of CpG would limit the potential of this TLR agonist in the clinic.